A Cyclone of Geniuses - The Story of Scorpion
by OlicityLove
Summary: The story proceeds starting from where the show left off for the winter finale (New Year's Eve)!
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Scorpion or any of its affiliates**

**A/N: So this is my first Scorpion story! I hope you all enjoy and feel free to send me your feedback! Constructive criticism is always appreciated!**

"Happy New Year's Eve Day!" Paige exclaimed gleefully as Ralph entered the kitchen.

New Year's Eve was Paige's favourite time of the year. She saw it as a fresh start and it gave her the opportunity to make new goals. Usually, her and Ralph would watch the ball drop on TV before heading to bed. The moment the ball dropped, Paige would close her eyes and make a wish.

This year however, Paige couldn't think of anything else she needed, or wanted for that matter. She had a good job with Scorpion and had made friends. Her and her son had connected more than she ever imagined possible and Ralph was growing close to Walter. Paige couldn't help but wonder whether Drew's recent reappearance in their lives would strain their relationship with the genius. She hoped it wouldn't, as she had too grown fond of Walter.

Past attempts at getting Ralph excited about New Years had failed, but she was confident that this year would be different.

Everything about the year so far had been different. Ever since the guy setting up the wireless Internet where she used to waitress had come into their lives, Paige knew that everything was changing. For the first time in her son's life, she was seeing him connect and interact with not only the Scorpion team, but also with her.

"15 hours and 28 minutes." Ralph stated matter-of-factly as he sat down at the kitchen table.

Paige quickly retrieved her phone and opened the program Walter had installed. "15 hours, 28 minutes and 19 seconds." She stated, smiling when she saw her son's reaction.

"18 seconds now." He said with a grin plastered on his face.

"That's right! Now eat your cereal we have to leave in ten minutes." She stated as she set a bowl of cereal down in front of Ralph.

* * *

><p>"Hello! We're here!" Paige yelled as her and Ralph entered the Scorpion base.<p>

"Good Morning!" Sylvester said as he stopped his calculation, turned away from his chalk board and nodded at the pair. Paige smiled at the way he greeted them. He smiled back then immediately returned to his calculations.

"Hi." Happy absentmindedly replied as she intently worked on some sort of metal rod.

"Don't mind her," Toby said with humour as he entered the room wearing the hat Happy had gotten him for Christmas, "she's busy. And how are you Ralph?"

Ralph looked up at Toby with a smile. "Good."

"Do you want to see something really cool?" He asked the ten year old. Ralph nodded and the two headed towards the garage as Paige stood in the middle of the room.

"Where are Walter and Cabe?"

Before anyone had a chance to respond, Walter began to descend the stairs.

"Right here." Once he got to the bottom of the stairwell, "and Cabe is spending New Years at his old house, he goes there every year."

"Where's Ralph?" He asked as he looked around.

"Toby took him to look at something, I'll go see what there up to." As the words left her lips, the present members of the team focused their attention on her.

"No." Happy said with zero wavering in her tone.

"That's not a good idea." Sylvester pleaded with her. Paige noticed the twitch in his hand, he was clearly nervous about something.

"What they're trying to say," Walter glared at the two team members before looking back to Paige, "is that today is you're favourite time of the year and we want you to enjoy yourself."

"Okay?" Paige questioned, as Walter motioned for her to sit down. "Why the sudden expression of your EQ?" She asked with a giggle.

"There is a higher likelihood that you will enjoy yourself if you are sitting. Taking into account the fact that you worked on your feet all day waitressing before we met, and you spend most of your time walking around with us," Walter stopped speaking when he heard footsteps approaching. Toby walked in with Ralph and decided to finish Walter's thought.

"You subconsciously associate being on your feet with work. Today is not a day for work, so it will be much more efficient for you to achieve maximum relaxation sitting down."

"Well thank you." Paige said as she relaxed deeply into the chair.

Walter began to speak once again.

"Not to mention you're a single mother so you should get to sit down and relax once in a while." Walter looked at Paige then turned to face Toby.

Paige noticed them having a silent conversation but couldn't focus on it as she tried to convince herself that Walter's most recent words were merely factual, rather than him making a stab at Drew. She got nervous when she started to see a softer side to Walter; it gave her hope. Paige shook the thought from her head… she couldn't get hurt again.

"Mom," Ralph called as he walked towards his mother, "can we go to the Tournament of Roses Parade today?"

Paige was very confused. Of course she wanted to take Ralph to the parade, but he had denied wanting to go for years.

"Sure honey. Why the sudden interest in parades?"

"I want to calculate the percent error in the band members formation. At least one will be out of position, giving me a good chance of variability in the data."

Paige nodded her head, feeling suspicious but overly pleased that she was going to the parade with her son.

"Are you guys ready?" Paige asked as she looked at the rest of Team Scorpion.

"I meant just us." Ralph said as he took her hand.

At this point, Paige knew something was up. She looked around and saw a nervous Sylvester, Happy keeping busy to prevent herself from looking up and Walter. His smile was steady and that caused her to question her son's motive for wanting to go to the parade.

"Have fun." Walter smiled and Paige stared at him for several moments.

"Come on, we don't want to be late." Ralph said as he led his mom to the car.

* * *

><p>"How was the parade?" Sylvester asked as Ralph and Paige walked in.<p>

"Good." Paige replied, "Ralph, go show Sylvester the numbers you calculated."

"Okay." Ralph said with a huge smile.

"What have you guys been up to today?"

"Nothing really," Happy said as she walked towards Paige, "just the usual."

Paige nodded, knowing how they could get wrapped up in their work.

* * *

><p>It was nearing midnight and Paige was getting very excited. Ralph was yawning, but he insisted on staying up.<p>

"It's time." Walter said as he nodded at Ralph, Toby, Sylvester and Happy.

"No, we still have 15 minutes!" Paige called out as she walked towards the group of people. As she got closer, she sensed that something was off; they were all looking at her strangely.

"Come." Walter said as he put out a hand for Paige. She looked at his hand and took it, without thinking about what it could mean. He guided her to the seating area and insisted she sit down.

"Thank you." She said.

"Your welcome." Walter was half way turned around when he felt his hand being tugged on by Paige. He hadn't realized she was still holding his hand.

"Thank you for everything. With Ralph and you helping out with him and Drew. It means a lot."

He nodded as they gazed into each other's eyes for a couple seconds longer than usual.

Breaking the silence was the sound of a heavy rolling object.

"What is that?" She asked with laughter at the sheer size of the object. It was very tall and looked very heavy.

"It's for you mom." Ralph walked over to her and sat on her lap.

"We've worked all day on this." Toby stated.

Paige looked at her son and realized that was why he was so insistent on going to the parade… to keep her away from their project.

Happy counted to three then pulled off the white sheet that was hiding the object.

Paige drew a quick breath as she realized what she was looking at.

In front of her was a miniature version of the ball that her and Ralph watch on TV every New Years Eve. As she walked closer, she noticed that the ball was plastered with photos of not only her and Ralph, but also them with the geniuses. She covered her mouth as she took in the beauty of the object; the detail was incredible.

"You didn't have-" She felt a tear fall down her cheek as she quickly wiped it away.

"We wanted to." Walter said as he plugged in the massive object.

Once it was plugged into the wall, the entire object lit up.

"It's going to drop." Ralph said .

"This is incredible." Paige said towards the team. They smiled at her and expressed their pride over their creation.

"Okay, one minute to go!" Sylvester stated as he stared at his watch.

Paige was fixated on the ball that gradually moved down. It was perfectly synced with the time as it reached the bottom.

"3….2..."

Paige closed her eyes, as she did every year at this time. Shortly after, she opened them, realizing that she didn't have anything to wish for… she has everything.

"…1… Happy New Year!"

As the ball hit the bottom, confetti shot into the air. She looked around to see Happy and Toby nudging each other and Sylvester doing some sort of calculation about the trajectory of the confetti with Ralph. Her eyes then settled on Walter. He was walking towards her as her heart raced.

Paige could feel herself blushing as the heat approached her face. She didn't know why, but she was anxious and excited about what was about to happen.

Before Walter made it to her, the attention of all the room's occupants were drawn to the front door as it opened.

Paige was surprised, but not as surprised as Walter was. Drew was there.

He waved at his son, then smiled as Paige approached him. She could feel Walter's eyes piercing into her back.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"The tryout ended early so I caught the soonest flight."

There was a short awkward silence between the two. She momentarily glanced back and smiled at Walter who grinned back at her.

"I have great news." Drew stated with enthusiasm. Paige didn't reply, she only nodded.

"The tryout ended early because they picked me to join the minor league team!"

Paige's heart almost sunk right then and there; not for herself but for her son. She had no idea how Ralph would react to his dad leaving _again_.

"And I want you and Ralph to move to Portland with me."

Paige drew in a deep breath. She was not expecting this.

**A/N 2: I am not sure whether this should be a one-shot or whether I should continue it! Let me know your thoughts!**

**Thanks for Reading/Reviewing!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own Scorpion or any of its affiliates**

**A/N: Thank you for the kind words! I sincerely appreciate everyone who has taken the time to read this story, to share their thoughts and to follow/favourite this!**

"Paige? Did you hear what I said?" Drew placed his hand on her elbow. "I know it's a shock, but I think-"

"Don't" Paige cut him off before he had a chance to finish speaking.

"Paige? This is a good thing." Drew's eyes were pleading for her to understand that he was finally ready.

"Don't do this." It was clear her eyes were filling with tears, but Drew could not understand why she was upset.

"Tears of joy?" Drew asked. "Trust me. It'll be different this time. I'm ready."

"Drew!" At this point, Paige was letting several tears caress her cheeks as they fell down her face. "You're ready? Are you kidding me?"

Drew did not understand what was going on, he couldn't understand why Paige wasn't thrilled.

He placed his other hand on her elbow but she pulled away. Before he had a chance to say anything, Walter was by Paige's side.

"What is going on here?" His voice was stern. After he saw Paige's distressed body movements, he knew something was not right.

"It's none of your concern Walter." Drew spat out.

"None of my concern?" Walter was getting frustrated and everyone in the room could tell. "Last time I checked, I've spent more time with your son than you have."

Drew's face became red, as he was ready to become defensive.

On cue Sylvester guided Ralph, who appeared to be at his EQ capacity with the situation, upstairs so he could sleep in Walter's room.

Happy and Toby remained in the background just out of earshot, prepared to jump in if necessary.

"How dare you say that about _my_ son."

"DNA doesn't make you a father." Walter stated with clear dictation. Scientifically, yes it did. But there was this feeling in the pit of Walter's stomach that had him believing fatherhood was more than just genetics.

"Stop it, please." Paige's small voice pierced through their conversation as both men looked at the teary eyed woman. "Walter, can you give us a minute?"

"Are you sure?" He asked, placing his hand where Drew's so recently was. The difference was that Paige leaned into his touch.

She nodded so Walter gave Drew one last glare before moving to stand beside Toby and Happy.

"Why are you acting like this?" Drew asked, "This is a good thing."

"A good thing? You were gone for seven years Drew. Our child has had seven years of memories without a dad! Do you realize how difficult that is? He has enough struggles in his life, and you never being around just added to it."

"Paige, I wasn't ready." He tilted his head away in shame before looking back into her eyes. "But I am now."

"You think I was ready? I was so young and then you just left. Night after night I told him you would come home until we both stopped believing it. I raised _our_ child on my own." Paige hadn't realized it or thought about it in several years, but Drew had burnt her and the scar never went away.

Drew couldn't think of anything to say, so he just kept staring at her.

"You don't just get to call me up and waltz back into our lives. Not if you're going to repeat history."

"But I'm not repeating history." A glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes once more, "I want you both to come with me. We can be a family."

_I have a family here, _Paige thought to herself.

"Ralph and I have a life here, you can't just expect us to pick up and follow you on a whim."

"Paige, this is serious. This is my career, If you just moved-"

"Because you're life and career are always more important than mine?" She swiped another tear from her cheek.

"What?" He questioned.

"When you claimed it would be better for Ralph and I to settle down in L.A. and you left, you _wanted_ to leave. You _wanted_ the freedom of the road. You didn't want to be tied down to responsibility. That explains the blonde in Tahoe, right? You're life and your career have always come first to mine."

"Well yeah, you were a waitress."

Paige let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"Sorry," Drew continued, "But you couldn't expect me to give up my baseball career for that."

"And now?"

"Now what?"

"I'm not some useless waitress anymore-"

"Paige, that's not what I meant."

Paige ignored him as she continued to speak. Walter was standing with his legs slightly separated and his arms folded across his chest. This entire situation was making him very uncomfortable. More so, he couldn't stand seeing Paige so upset. Toby's eyebrows were raised and Happy sat with a stiff face while she observed the former couple.

"These people," She said motioning to the group behind her, "make a real difference and I help them. Equally important, they have helped Ralph, which you haven't for the past seven years."

"Is this about Walter?" Drew questioned her as his eyes continually made contact with Walter who was positioned in a defensive stance behind her.

"What?"

"He may be like our son, but I am his father and nothing can change that Paige. As much as you wish that someone else were, I am. And I am not giving up a relationship with my son because you want to run around pretending to be a part of this," He motioned to the room and people around him.

The words hit her like a brick. No air could enter her lungs and no words could pass her lips.

Drew put his hand to his forehead and took several deep breaths. "Look Paige, I'm sorry."

Without saying a word, Paige turned away from him and headed upstairs to where Ralph was. She hid her face as she tilted her head towards the wall, but Walter could tell she was crying.

As she walked up the stairs, Drew turned to follow her, but his arm was soon grabbed by Walter's hand.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

**Thanks for reading and reviewing!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I have no words other than "Thank you!" for all the support I have been receiving for this story! I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint! Enjoy!**

Paige walked into Walter's room where Ralph was sleeping. On the way in she walked passed Sylvester, who was heading back downstairs, but she couldn't force herself to look up. Instead she just kept her head down as her tears continued to flow. She walked in to see a peacefully sleeping Ralph.

She sat on the side of the bed and began rubbing soothing circles on her son's back as he slept. She smiled minutely at the memory of when Walter first came to their house. She recalled what he had said about pausing and rewinding his dreams and couldn't help but wonder if that's what Ralph was doing right now.

The smile left her face as quickly as it came. She replayed Drew's words in her head over and over again until she couldn't see through the tears that were filling her eyes.

Quick breaths began to escape her lips, as though her lungs had been deprived of oxygen for hours.

Paige didn't like to show weakness, it made her feel small. After Drew had left she had put on a tough face for her and Ralph. She needed to be strong because she was all that Ralph had. In turn, he was all that she had too.

Startling her, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

_Please don't be Drew._

Her eyes quickly met Walter's as she let out several more quick breaths.

"Take a deep breath." Walter instructed.

Paige nodded, but continued to inhale rapidly.

"Paige." Walter sat down on the bed beside her and took her hands into his. "Focus on my breathing okay?"

Walter took slow, deep breathes and Paige followed in his breathing pattern. After a minute or so, Paige was able to breathe normally again.

"Thank you." She said in a soft voice, still trembling from the harsh words she received from Drew only moments ago.

"Happy to help," He said with eyes capturing an emotion that closely resembled sympathy, "What did he say to you?"

Paige's eyes darted away from his, "Nothing."

"It wasn't nothing," He said, squeezing her hand, "I saw the way his stance became aggressive and yours defensive. What did he say?"

"Walter. Please." Paige was pleading with him to leave the topic alone.

She couldn't imagine how she would feel if Walter began to see her as Drew did, so she decided against telling him what was said.

Walter was not one to give up a conversation half way through, especially if his objective hadn't been met. But this time he made an exception.

"He's not still down there is he?" She asked.

"No. I told him he should leave."

"And he just left without a fight?" Paige was surprised; Drew wasn't one to leave without getting what he wants.

"Not exactly." Walter said as he looked down at his hands.

Paige's eyes followed his. She saw that his knuckles were bruised and swollen.

"Oh my –"

"It's nothing." He said with a half smile.

"Walter! You hit him?"

"It's not like he didn't deserve it." He stated, and then looked up to see a speechless Paige. He couldn't tell whether or not she was mad, "Are you upset?"

"No." She said as a grin formed on her face, "Quite the opposite actually."

* * *

><p><em>As she walked up the stairs, Drew turned to follow her, but his arm was soon grabbed by Walter's hand.<em>

_"I wouldn't do that if I were you." _

_"Well it's a good think you're not me then." Drew said as he yanked his arm out of Walter's grip._

_"Yes it is, because you're an ass." He stated with a smile, satisfied with his impromptu comeback. _

_"Who the hell do you think you are?" Drew's face scrunched up as his eyes sent darts into Walter._

_"I'm a better person than you and that's an undeniable fact."_

_"Yeah, I don't think so." _

_"I do." Walter said with no trace of a tremble in his voice. "You're the kind of man who leaves his family alone to fend for themselves while you run off with random blondes." _

_Walter remembered the small amount of information Paige had absentmindedly given him the day they met at the diner. He knew he had hit a spot when he noticed Drew's shocked expression. _

_It was clear he didn't think Paige would have told him. Walter mentally congratulated himself then continued speaking. _

_"After having interacted with Ralph for less than a minute, I knew he was special, he is important and the fact you could just leave him proves my point. You didn't care about him or Paige when you left, and they deserve so much more than that. They deserve so much more than you."_

_As the words left Walter's mouth, he felt a strange feeling in his gut. He could tell that adrenaline was pumping wildly through his veins. _

_Simultaneously, Drew had hit his breaking point._

_"How do you suppose that, because you're sleeping with my ex? Is that how she got this job in the first place? I mean I don't blame you, she can be enticing." Drew said the last word with emphasis as he lifted the corner of his mouth. He was mocking her and trying to rile up Walter._

_It was working. _

_Walter could feel his hands beginning to shake. The way Drew spoke about Paige invoked a foreign feeling within him. He felt an urge to form his hand into a fist and thrust it towards Drew. _

_Before either of them could process what was happening, Walter's fist was moving with an increasing velocity towards Drew. The entirety of his face felt the blow as he stumbled back a bit._

_Walter felt the sudden stinging in his hand as he heard Toby and Happy cheering him on in the background. He had almost forgotten that they were behind him. He looked up towards the stairwell and saw Sylvester looking at him with wide eyes. The whole team was equally shocked and impressed. _

_Walter let out a miniscule laugh as he realized that jolting his fist towards Drew caused the knot in his stomach to disappear… Walter felt good. _

_"Hey there," Toby directed his words towards Drew as he saw him preparing to hit Walter in return. "That's not a good idea."_

_Drew smirked at Toby's comment, but revaluated hitting Walter when he saw the proud smile on his face. Drew got the feeling that Walter would be more than happy to hit him again. _

_"It's time you leave." Walter stated with conviction. Moments later, Drew stormed out._

* * *

><p>"I can't believe you hit him."<p>

"I can." Walter looked up at Paige with a straight face, "It felt nice."

"_This_ felt nice?" She asked with a smile while pointing to his bruised knuckles.

"Yes. I can't explain it but once I hit him, I felt much better. The uncomfortable feeling inside me completely vanished."

Paige just giggled as she thought about what Walter had said. He unknowingly expressed more EQ than she had ever seen.

"Mom?" Ralph's eyes opened slowly as he was awaken by the pair's talking.

"Ralph, I'm sorry we woke you." She gave her son an apologetic look before turning to face Walter.

"I'm going to put some ice on my hand." Walter whispered to Paige. Then, he looked at Ralph, "Go back to sleep bud."

As Walter left his room, Paige turned her attention back to her son.

"Mom, is he leaving us again?"

Paige loved her son more than anything, but she wished in moments like these that he wasn't so intuitive.

"I-" She stopped speaking. She wasn't going to lie to him.

"I don't want him to leave." He said before Paige could continue.

"We'll talk about this later. Your genius brain needs sleep." She said as she kissed his forehead.

Ralph closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep.

Paige continued looking at her son for a while longer. She thought about what he had said.

_Am I being selfish for wanting to stay with Scorpion when Ralph clearly wanted to have his father in his life?_

Paige had no idea what she was going to do.

**Thanks again for Reading/Reviewing! **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who has continued to support this story and I'd love to hear your thoughts!**

Paige opened the door to the diner and reminisced about when she used to waitress there. Everything in her life had changed so much in the past few months. She smiled when she saw an empty seat. It was stool Ralph was sitting in the first time he and Walter talked. _So much had changed for Ralph too_, Paige thought to herself.

Her eyes searched until she saw Drew sitting in a booth by the large wall of windows. She made her way over to him.

_Walter hit you hard. _She thought to herself as she noticed the right side of his face still showed signs of purple and blue.

It had been a couple days since they had spoken. Paige needed time to think about what her next step would be.

"Where's Ralph?" Drew asked as he looked around. He had clearly assumed that the three of them would be having lunch.

"The two of need to talk."

"Where is he?" Drew asked, still focused on the absence of his son.

"He's with Toby, Happy, Sylvester and-" Not allowing her to finish, he cut in.

"He's with Walter?"

"Yes?" Paige replied, confused with the anger in his voice, "And the others."

"Great." He stated plainly, "Just great."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Paige questioned defensively. "Walter is the reason that you have been able to interact better with Ralph since you got back. Since when was his presence an issue."

"Walter is _always_ around our son, Paige. We don't want him getting to close to Ralph, especially if they aren't going to be around each other for much longer. Speaking of, have you thought anymore about what I asked you?"

"I have and I was-"

"Good. I know that things were said on New Years, but I want to assure you that the offer is still open." He said smugly as he took a drink of water.

"Drew. Whether or not the door is open isn't the concern here."

He moved the cup away from his lips and placed it on the table with a near silent grunt.

"I know that you want to be a part of Ralph's life." She looked him in the eyes, "But Ralph's life is here in L.A."

Drew looked on edge, but at least he was listening to what she had to say.

"So I was thinking that instead of us leaving, you could stay here."

Drew didn't respond; he just looked frustrated and annoyed.

"What happened to be me 'being a good mother and whatever I decide is the right move'?"

"I've been so patient with you." He proceeded, "but you need to take a look at reality and realize what is truly the best for our son."

"I think that Scorpion is the best thing for our son."

"Paige, you don't listen." His head shook slightly from side to side. "This was always your problem," He mumbled under his breath.

"I do listen-"

"No, you don't. I want you to understand that," He placed his hand around hers, making Paige feel rather uncomfortable. "Baseball is a big thing for me, and our family. I have tried very hard to be patient with you… and you're strange friends. But enough is enough. It's time you open your eyes and allow us all to be a family again. Don't you want Ralph to have a family?"

Paige's eyes darted away from his.

"Yes, but-"

"Good then, it's settled." He took his hands off of hers and smiled as he leaned back into his seat, "You, Ralph and I are moving to Portland."

"No, we're not actually." Paige stated. "Ralph and I have a family here." She smiled as thoughts of the Scorpion team filled her mind.

"I am yours and Ralph's family." He cracked a smile and ran a hand through his hair. The way his head tilted to one side made Paige shift in her seat.

She never remembered him acting like this, but then again, maybe she never realized it was wrong.

"And if you believe that, then you will sacrifice baseball for your family." Paige stated as she stood up from the booth.

Before she had a chance to begin walking, she felt a tight grip on her lower arm. She spun around to see Drew mere feet away from her.

"Let me go." She asked as politely as her lips would allow.

"Sit back down Paige." He had a million dollar smile plastered on his face. It was a bit frightening how his face could look so innocent while his voice was as dark as it was. "We are not done talking here."

She could feel his grip tightening.

"I think we are. You either stay here, or you go to Portland alone. It's you're choice." She turned away from him and yanked her arm out of his grip.

As she walked away from him, Paige could feel her hands shaking ever so slightly as her heart raced.

* * *

><p>"Why is Paige not back yet?" Walter asked himself as he glanced at his watch for the tenth time that minute.<p>

"Relax," Happy said as she stood beside Ralph and Walter, "She'll be back soon."

"She's been gone for 31 minutes and 17 seconds Walter," Sylvester stated as he began to explain his calculations. "It takes 9 minutes and 3 seconds to get to the Diner on a day with average traffic, so times that by two to get the total distance travelled here and back, that's 18 minutes and 6 seconds, giving her only 13 minutes and 11 seconds to talk to Drew."

"And considering what happened on New Years," Toby cut in, "They probably need a lot more time to talk."

As Toby finished his sentence, the team's attention was pulled to the front door.

"I'm back." Paige exclaimed, less enthusiastically than usual.

"How was lunch?" Walter asked, even though he knew she didn't eat. He calculated the average time it takes to order, receive and eat a meal and came to the conclusion that no food was eaten by Paige.

"Good." She absentmindedly answered.

Walter inferred that because she obviously lied about eating lunch, that she didn't want to talk about whatever happened with Drew.

"How was you're afternoon Ralph? Did you have fun?" Once Paige's eyes saw Ralph, they lit up.

"Yeah." He replied with a grin.

Although Walter could never understand the concept of the maternal bond on a level beyond science, he knew it was real when he saw Paige with Ralph.

Sylvester went back to organizing his desk and Happy disappeared with Ralph to the garage.

Paige grabbed a ponytail from her purse and began pulling her hair back. Toby must have seen something because as her arms were in the air, he nervously spoke.

"Um, Paige?"

"Yeah?" She asked, confused why his tone was suddenly serious.

Walter's face stiffened as he set his eyes on whatever Toby was looking at.

"What?" She asked hastily, not wanting to be left in the dark on whatever they were panicking about. "What is it?"

"You're arm." Toby said simultaneously as Walter rapidly walked over to her.

Before she could look down, Walter already had his hands softly resting on her arm.

Walter doesn't like to partake in physical interactions with others, but he wanted to examine Paige's arm. He didn't understand why he was taking note of how soft her skin was when he was supposed to be examining the dark mark on her skin.

Paige noticed a bruise on her lower arm, that resembled the shape if a man's hand.

"Oh." She quickly inhaled, not realizing that Drew had left a mark on her arm.

Walter did not speak; he just stared at the bruise. Scenarios of what could have happened ran through his brain and he plotted what he would do if he ever saw Drew again.

"Guys, don't worry about it." She said as she too stared at the bruise.

"Don't worry about it?" Toby questioned with emphasis on the entire statement. It was clear they had already started worrying.

"Has he always been aggressive?" Walter asked in an interrogatory manner.

"No!" Paige replied. When they both stared at her with disbelief in their eyes, she continued to speak. "You think I would let my son around an abusive person?" Her voice was strong, yet hurt by their accusation.

Walter knew that Paige would never expose Ralph to aggression intentionally.

"Drew is not a violent person. He just has a temper. This is the first time anything like this has ever happened." She looked up from her bruise to see Walter. His face was plastered with concern. "I promise."

"She doesn't know does she?" Toby interjected.

"Know what?" Paige asked immediately.

Toby and Walter had a silent conversation between themselves. Paige knew they were keeping something from her and it made her nervous to think they knew something about Drew that was worth keeping to themselves.

"Know what?" Paige asked again, this time with a little less patience.

**Thanks again for reading/reviewing!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I sincerely want to thank everyone who has read/favourited/followed this. It is truly incredible to see how wonderful the Scorpion fan base is! Enjoy the chapter!**

"Walter! Toby!" Paige exclaimed with an exasperated tone, "What are you talking about?"

Toby looked at Walter, who was staring blankly at Paige. It was obvious that he was contemplating the pros and cons of telling her what they knew. Without giving Walter the opportunity to decide, Toby began to speak.

"Before we met Drew, we looked into his background."

"Okay?" Paige asked with confusion as to the direction of the conversation.

"Before Drew met you, he was arrested for battery."

"What?" Paige asked as she put her hand up to cover her mouth, "No, that's not possible."

"It is." Walter stated, coming out of his trance-like state.

"No, I… That doesn't even make sense, are you sure?" She asked, pleading with them for it to be a misunderstanding.

"Yes." Toby interjected, "He pleaded guilty to the charge."

"Oh my-" Before she could finish speaking, her eyes began to swell with tears. Paige shook her head lightly from side to side several times.

"I…I left Ralph alone with him!" Falling tears greeted Paige's cheeks as she realized that Ralph could have been hurt.

"Mom?" The attention of the room turned to the ten-year-old boy who was holding Happy's hand. The sudden silence caused Sylvester to look towards them and make his way over to join the team.

"Ralph, sweetie," Ralph walked over to his mom and she bent down to look him in the eyes. "I have a question for you and I don't want you to worry. I just want you to answer honestly, okay?"

"Okay."

"Has dad," She shook her head, "Drew ever hurt… has he ever been aggressive with you?"

Paige's eyes were filled with tears as she spoke the words she never imagined saying to her son.

Happy and Sylvester looked towards Toby for an explanation. As a response to their curiosity, Toby pointed to his lower arm then nodded towards Paige. As Sylvester spotted the bruise, he began pacing back and forth. Happy on the other hand, remained stiff as her face formed into an anger filled expression.

"No, I mean when he gets mad or frustrated with me, he sometimes holds my hand a bit tight. But it doesn't really hurt."

No words could escape Paige's mouth as she looked at her son with wide eyes.

"Ralph, can you come with me? I want to show you an algorithm." Sylvester jumped in, wanting to get himself and Ralph away from whatever was going to happen next.

Ralph looked at Sylvester then back to his mom.

"It's okay honey, go on." Paige stifled out as she ran a hand through her son's hair.

As soon as Ralph and Sylvester were out of earshot, the silence in the room was broken.

"Do you have the file?" Paige asked to no one in particular, "I need to see the charge."

"On it." Toby stated as he hastily walked over to his desk and pulled out a yellow tinted file.

As he handed it to Paige and she began reading, he, Happy, and Walter could all tell that she was completely shocked by the arrest.

"Paige," Walter took a step towards her, "This isn't your fault. You had no idea."

"I should have known." Paige cursed herself, "It's my job as his mother to know-"

Walter cut her off before she had a chance to further upset herself.

"You can't change the past, but you can change the present."

Paige looked up into Walter's eyes and knew what he was referring to.

"I know," Walter stopped and referenced the rest of the team, "We all know how much you want Ralph to have his father back in his life. I understand that. But you need to figure out if that is what's best for him… and for you."

Paige just nodded at him; she didn't know what else to do.

After several minutes of thinking to herself, Paige grabbed her phone from her purse and began dialling.

"Drew?" She asked, "Are you still at the diner?"

After several moments of silence, she continued speaking.

"Good, stay there. I'll be there as soon as I can."

She hung up the phone and headed for the door. Before she made it, she heard multiple footsteps trailing her.

"What are you doing?" She asked as she turned around.

"You don't really think we're letting you go alone?" Happy asked.

"Because we're not… going to let you go alone that is." Toby cut in.

"We will come with you and Sylvester will watch Ralph." Walter looked at Paige, his eyes showing no signs of backing down.

"Okay. Since I know better than to ask you to stay, lets go." Paige stated as Walter, Happy and Toby followed her out the door.

* * *

><p>She walked into the diner and motioned for the others to sit a few booths down. As she walked towards Drew, a smile overcame his facial features.<p>

"I knew you would change your mind." He stated with pride as she approached him.

"You need to leave."

"But you just got here?" He asked with confusion.

"Not just this diner Drew, you need to leave L.A."

"I'm not leaving without you and Ralph." He stated with frustration growing on his features.

"Yes, you are." She stated, standing a couple of feet away from him, "You are leaving and you are _never_ coming near me or _my_ son again."

"Who do you think you-"

Before he could finish, Paige retrieved the yellowish folder from her purse and tossed it on the table.

He opened the front of the folder and saw his arrest report. He looked angry, not only that his past was being dug up, but also that Paige had found out.

"Do not come near me or Ralph again."

As Drew stood up from his seat, his eyes were drawn towards three people making their towards Paige.

Walter was first, followed by Happy who was housing a pissed off expression and Toby, who was proudly walking behind them.

"You have 24 hours." Paige exclaimed with a stiff and determined voice as she turned around and walked out of the diner. The others followed her out after giving Drew a series of threatening glares.

They made their way back to Scorpion in silence. Toby and Happy were nudging each other in the back seat as Walter drove home; Paige was too worked up to drive. Walter kept looking back and forth from the road to Paige, wondering what she was thinking.

Paige stared out the window for the entire drive back. She couldn't help but wonder what she was going to tell her son.

**A/N: So there will be no update tomorrow (as it is Christmas), but I will be back to updating as soon as possible. I hope you all liked this chapter and have a great and safe Holiday!**

**Thank you for Reading/Reviewing!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I hope this update makes up for it!**

"Ralph?" Paige called as she, Toby, Happy and Walter entered the Scorpion base. As she was about to call again, she spotted Sylvester and her son by the chalkboard.

Without speaking, she went up to her son and ran her hands through his hair. She looked down and smiled at his innocent facial features. Paige didn't know how she was going to tell him that Drew was leaving. She wondered if he would understand or if he would hold it against her. Either way, Paige knew she made the right choice; Drew was dangerous and she wouldn't let that around her son.

"What did you and Sylvester do while we were gone?" She asked.

"We worked on Sylvester's algorithm. We were able to shorten it for time stamps. It was pretty cool."

"It sounds like it!" Paige replied, attempting to sound enthusiastic even though her mind was somewhere else.

"Hey, can I talk to your mom for a minute?" Walter walked up beside Paige and Ralph, "I think Toby and Happy would like to see that algorithm."

"Okay." On cue, Ralph ran over to Happy and Toby to show them. Sylvester followed after Walter gave him a nod, indicating he would like privacy.

"How are you going to tell him?" Walter wasted no time as he jumped straight to the point.

"I don't know," Paige answered honestly, "I don't want to wait to long though, Drew was supposed to come over tonight and Ralph will figure it out when he doesn't show up."

Walter nodded, unsure of what the appropriate response was.

"Can you come over?" She didn't think, but before she knew it the words had escaped her lips.

Walter's eye's were wide, a bit shocked at her question.

"It might help if you're there when I tell him. You'll understand how he's feeling and that will help me explain it to him in a way he understands." She waited for him to respond, but when he didn't she continued, "Please, it would mean a lot."

"Absolutely." Walter intended to say 'sure' but ended up leaning his head inward slightly and reassuring Paige that he would be there. He could tell by Paige's deep sigh of relief that he had said the right thing.

* * *

><p>Ralph was sitting on the couch beside Paige, as Walter leaned on the wall observing the pair. She had told Ralph that Walter was coming over to play videogames, which was true. But after 30 minutes of friendly competition on the PlayStation, Paige decided it was time to tell him. After several failed attempts by Paige to start the conversation, Walter cut in.<p>

"This is about your dad." Walter said sincerely as Paige nodded and mouthed 'thank you' towards him.

"What about him?" The innocence and curiosity in Ralph's voice caused Paige's heart to break.

"I know how much you've liked having your dad back." She said as she ruffled a hand through his hair.

Ralph kept staring at his mom, not replying.

"And he cares about you." She stopped to swallow the lump that was rising in her throat, "He got the opportunity to join a baseball team in Portland-"

She stopped speaking as she saw her son go rigid. Paige couldn't stand the thought of her son thinking that his dad was choosing to leave them again so she decided to tell him more than she originally planned.

"He asked us to go with him."

Just as Paige was going to continue speaking, she saw her son's eyes widen and shoot towards Walter.

"Walter, are you going to Portland?" He asked.

"No." Walter stated firmly. When he noticed the minuscule amount of fear in Ralph's eyes, Walter realized what the boy was thinking. He quickly walked over to the couch and sat on the coffee table directly across from Ralph. "I'm not going, and neither are you or your mom."

Paige covered her mouth, realizing that her son was worried about leaving Walter and the rest of the team. She smiled lightly, knowing she made the right choice to stay.

"I told your dad that we're not going with him, but that he should still go."

When she noticed Ralph's confused expression, Paige looked at Walter and he interjected.

"What your mom is trying to say is that she evaluated all the variables and came to the conclusion that your dad needed to leave. I know she made the right choice." Walter and Ralph's eyes were locked; it was as if they were having a silent conversation.

Ralph looked to his mom and nodded.

Paige was surprised that Ralph seemed to understand her decision once he heard that Walter supported it. She was grateful that Walter, and all of Scorpion were in their lives.

"Can I go do some equations that Sylvester gave me?"

"Of course." She replied as he stood up and walked back to his room.

Paige was worried that Ralph was more affected by Drew's departure than he was letting on. The worry must have been plastered on her face, because Walter moved off the coffee table and onto the couch beside her.

"I will keep an eye on him and let you know if the emotions he's keeping bottled up get to be too much."

"Thank you." Paige smiled at him and he smiled back.

Walter recalled the feeling he got in the pit of his stomach on Christmas when he saw Paige. He remembered the way the fake snow resting on her hair made her smile shine brighter. The feeling of wonder and invincibility once again found a home inside Walter as he wondered why being around her made him feel this way.

Interrupting both their thoughts was a knock at the door.

"Are you expecting anyone?" Walter asked in a near whisper.

Paige shook her head, indicating that the visitor surprised her too.

The knocking continued, this time with a repeated hard bang.

Walter steadily got up and made his way over to the door. Paige followed.

"Let me in Paige! Now!" The voice caused Walter's body to go stiff and a shiver to travel down Paige's spine.

It was Drew.

**A/N: I will try my best to update as soon as possible and thank you for continuing to support this story!**

**Thanks again for Reading/Reviewing!**


	7. Chapter 7

"Paige! I know you're in there! Open the door!" Drew's voice shot through the apartment. "Open the door!"

She could hear the anger in his voice. Surprisingly, there were traces of desperation as well.

"Paige?" Walter whispered.

Paige's eyes were plastered on the door and her lips remained closed.

When Paige didn't respond, Walter repeated himself, "Paige?"

"I'll call the police." She whispered back.

"Don't. Their reaction time is too long; he could knock the door down by the time they get here. I'll call Cabe, he'll send officials."

"Okay." She replied in a hushed tone. Walter could hear the fear in her voice.

"You don't think I'll get in do you?" Drew didn't stop banging on the door. Walter could tell from the way his words slightly slurred that he was most likely under the influence of alcohol.

"Mom?" Ralph walked out of his room with curiosity resting on his facial features.

The sight of the young boy caused Paige to panic. Walter on the other hand began running possible scenarios through his head; Ralph was a variable that couldn't be overlooked.

Before she had a chance to talk to her son, the banging stopped momentarily. The empty sound was soon filled with the ruffling of a bag and a key in the lock.

Walter looked towards Paige who was carrying a frustrated and fearful expression.

With both hands in her hair and eyes widened she whispered, "He has a key. I gave him one so he could get in when he looks after Ralph."

Walter did not like this one bit. Drew was getting into the apartment; it was only a matter of time.

"Take Ralph into the other room and message Cabe." Paige directed her words towards Walter.

"No, you can't be here alone when he gets in." Walter stated in response.

She walked closer to him, until they were feet apart.

"He knows I am here, but he doesn't know that you or Ralph are. The best way to get rid of him is to pretend that I'm the only one here. Okay?"

Walter didn't respond. He was not comfortable leaving Paige alone with him.

"Walter, please" Her voice was barely a whisper, but low enough that Drew couldn't hear, "Go, now."

As they heard the key turning, Walter led Ralph into Paige's room. He knew that the first place Drew would look for Ralph was in his room, so Paige's room was his best bet. He texted Cabe and signalled for Ralph to stay quiet, Walter's eyes wondered around Paige's room. It was colourful and there were several hanging paintings of flowers. The sight caused Walter to smile ever so slightly. The gesture however, dissipated quickly as he heard the front door open.

"Drew, what are you doing here?" Paige asked, desperately trying to hide her fear.

"I know what you tried to do, but don't worry, I won't fail this time!" As he got closer to Paige, she noticed that his breath was laced with alcohol.

"What are you talking about?"

"You told me to stay away… It was a test! I am going to pas it!" His eyes were wide with determination.

"It wasn't a test Drew." Paige stated as she lightly shook her head. She wished he would understand that she was being serious.

"It was! You wanted to see if I would leave again," Drew stepped forward, his face was in close approximation to hers, "Don't worry, I will never leave you again."

"Drew-"

"Our love is strong Paige, we can make it through this."

His words caused her body to jolt backwards. She had no idea where this was coming from.

"I know that you never stopped loving me. I left, but we never really said goodbye. I was thinking and I realized that we are meant to be a real family… you, Ralph and me. Speaking of Ralph, where is our little boy?"

Drew's head looked around her, unable to spot the ten year old.

It took Paige a moment to absorb everything that she was hearing. Once he said her son's name, she knew she had to act fast.

"Ralph isn't here." She awaited the brunt of his response.

"What?" Drew questioned, clearly frustrated by the lie, "Where is he?"

Paige couldn't spit out an answer. The anger and smell of alcohol protruding off of him ignited the fear she had been trying to hide.

"Walter?" He stated angrily, "Our son is with Walter? What is it about that guy? He's not your type… I am your type! You know what Paige, he can't be a father to my son!"

"Drew, calm down." Paige was desperately trying to keep the situation under control. Her eyes gradually fell on her bedroom door; knowing that Walter and Ralph were standing behind it. She closed her eyes, knowing that they could hear her conversation with Drew.

Drew took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Before she knew what was happening, his hands were cupping her face.

"You and me Paige… This is real. We are real." She tried to pull her face away but his grip was tightening, "Stop chasing this life that you can't have. You're meant to be with me. We have to be together in order to be a family."

His eyes locked with hers, only they were expressing severely different emotions. Drew's eyes were filled with desire and passion, whereas Paige's were filled with fear and confusion.

"I love you Paige Dineen." As his lips collided with hers, she felt the need to push back. His strength however was too much for her small physique.

Before she knew what was happening, Drew's face was ripped of hers as he saw him crumple to the floor. She took deep heavy breaths and she tried to regain composure and hide her relief that he was off of her.

She saw Walter standing above Drew, with his fists clenched.

"Go into your room Paige." Walter's voice was nearly unrecognizable. If it hadn't been coming from his mouth, Page wouldn't have been sure it was his.

"Walter," Paige walked up to him, "don't do this."

She was grateful that he had helped her, but she didn't want Walter to get hurt. Drew was drunk, determined and dangerous

"Paige," he turned his head so that his eyes were across from hers. Before he had a chance to finish, Drew's fist was flying towards Walter.

Paige jumped backwards in shock as Walter felt the brunt of the blow. The sheer force of his hit caused Walter to fall to the ground.

"Walter!"

Paige's response enraged Drew, so he swung his foot into Walter's side multiple times.

"Stop!" Paige cried out to Drew, "Please stop!"

When her screams didn't work, she stepped in front of Drew. It wasn't the smartest move, but she followed her instincts and did it anyways.

Surprisingly, her actions caused Drew to stop kicking.

"Dad?" Ralph entered the living space and saw Walter unconscious on the floor, his mom with tears streaming down here face and his father with an unrecognizable anger.

**A/N: I hope you liked the chapter! Thank you to all the people who have enjoyed this story from the beginning and all the new followers!**

**Thanks again for Reading/Reviewing!**


	8. Chapter 8

Paige's head shot towards her son as she heard his voice. She looked briefly at him then back at Drew; she was trying to anticipate his next move.

"I thought you said," Drew looked at Paige, realizing that she had lied to him about Ralph's whereabouts, "You can't keep trying to rip my son away from me!"

Paige couldn't stand to be continually blamed for his life choices. Memories filled her mind of when he had left and how she had felt broken. Out of everything that she was unsure about, there was one thing that she knew for certain… Him leaving was no one's fault but his own.

"You left! The only person who ruined your relationship with Ralph was _you_!" Paige didn't bother wiping the tears that were flowing down her cheeks. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she looked towards Ralph. This was the first time she had allowed herself to show her sadness about Drew leaving in front of him.

Drew looked from Paige to Walter then back towards Ralph. He began making his way towards his son when Paige ran in front of him, blocking him from getting to Ralph.

"What do you think you're doing?" Drew spat out.

"Honey, I need you to go to room now." Paige directed at Ralph without letting her eyes part from Drew's.

When she didn't hear movement behind her, she spoke again.

"Ralph, go to your room and get something to block your door. I'll come get you soon, I promise." She noticed Drew's face turn a deep shade of red; he was clearly angered by Paige's words to Ralph.

"You want him to block the door? What do you think I'm going to do to him?" His words were expressed loudly and his hands flew into the air, making over exaggerated movements as he spoke.

Paige's voice was broken as she remained in her protective stance in front of her son, "Ralph, now!"

"What about Walter?"

Ralph's words caused two separate reactions from the adults in the room.

Paige's eyes ripped from Drew and landed on an unconscious Walter. She thought about how he had helped her and how in this moment, she couldn't help him. She looked at his motionless body and felt a deep guilt for inviting him over in the first place; if she hadn't asked him to come over, he wouldn't be passed out on her living room floor.

Drew's response was much different than Paige's. The thought that his son was so concerned about Walter only enraged him further.

He stepped back from the two of them and turned around. Paige was ready to once again stand in front of Walter so Drew couldn't hurt him anymore than he already had, but then she noticed he was not walking towards Walter.

Drew ran his hands through his hair as he started to laugh.

It wasn't the kind of contagious laugh that Paige remembered from when they were young and in love, it was the kind of laugh that caused her to move closer to her son, who remained standing behind her.

"This is so unbelievable," Drew stated in between sickening chuckles. "Who the hell is this guy?" He yelled towards Walter.

Paige felt her son take a step towards her, resulting in her feeling his tiny body hiding behind hers. She wished that he was somewhere safe, but was simultaneously grateful that his warmth comforted her in this moment.

"I mean seriously! I am a minor league baseball player and this fool works in a run down building doing-" He stopped to look at Paige, "What do you and him even do all day? You're pretty much choosing someone who does absolutely nothing important over me!"

Paige could sense he as about to go off on her again, but before she or Drew could say anything more, Ralph stepped around her.

"What Walter does _is_ important." Ralph's voice was small, but impactful.

"Important?" Drew was beginning to yell again as he quickly walked towards Paige and their son.

Instinct kicked in as she lightly took her son's arm and told him to run to his room even though she knew he wouldn't leave her and Walter.

She was standing directly in front of Drew, as she saw his hands clenching into fists. She knew what was coming, and it scared her.

Her eyes closed as she prepared for his impending action.

Rather than feeling a shooting pain, she heard voices entering her apartment. The familiarity of one of the voices caused her eyes to immediately open.

"Homeland Security!" Leading the team was Agent Gallo, Paige released a bit of tension at the familiar sight.

"What is this?" Drew yelled as two of the agents grabbed his arms and pressed them against his back.

"Drew Baker, you are under arrest." Cabe said with anger lacing his voice. He saw Ralph standing behind Paige, who seemed to hold the fear of the world in her eyes.

"For what?" He spat out.

"For starters, assault." He said as she saw Walter on the ground.

"That won't stick." He stated coyly.

"Well, then guess we'll have to find something that will." As he assured Drew that he would be spending a long time behind bars, he gave Paige a tight, reassuring smile.

Paige returned the gesture then ran over to Walter and got down on her knees. She put both her hands on his cheeks, trying to wake him up.

"Walter? Come on Walter." Fresh tears formed in her eyes when he wouldn't open his. "Wake up. Please wake up."

She held her eyelids closed as her head fell forward.

"Is he going to wake up?" Ralph asked, causing Paige to look up.

She couldn't lie to him, not after everything they had been through.

"I don't know honey." She could see that Ralph was hurting; first his father came barging in full of anger and aggression, and now his mentor and friend is lying unconscious on the floor.

"Cabe!" Paige called out, "He's not waking up!"

Her words caught Cabe's attention as he came rushing over to the trio.

"We need a medic!" He called towards the other officials, who quickly radioed in for an ambulance.

"He's going to be okay." Cabe reassured Paige and Ralph, but really, he was trying to convince himself.

**A/N: I hope you all liked the chapter! Another one will be out soon!**

**Thanks for Reading/Reviewing!**


	9. Chapter 9

"We're going to need to take him to the hospital." The paramedic spoke in a polite, but hurried tone.

The two paramedics had arrived within five minutes and quickly began assessing Walter. One of them lifted his eyelids to examine his pupils; the sight caused Paige's heart to race faster. She had never seen Walter so vulnerable and helpless.

The male paramedic looked stern and suspicious of how his patient had received his injuries. He knew there was something going on, considering the abundance of agents in the small apartment.

His partner however, appeared gentle and friendly; it was clear she held sympathy for the distraught bystanders.

"Is he going to be okay?" Paige asked nervously, hoping she could get an answer from one of the medics.

"We won't know until we get to the hospital." The male said without much emotion.

After looking at Paige's teary eyes, the female began to speak, attempting to reassure Paige that everything possible was being done to help Walter.

"He's breathing normally and has a relatively steady heart rate. The only concern is the possible damages to his brain. Considering he has been unconscious for quite a while, it is crucial to get him to the hospital as soon as possible."

Paige slightly nodded at the medic, grateful for the information given, but nervous for what it could mean.

As the paramedics lifted Walter onto the stretcher, Paige couldn't stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks.

"You can ride in the ambulance if you'd like." The female told Paige. It was clear that she suspected they were more than just friends.

Before she could respond, Cabe had his hand on Paige's shoulder. "Go, I will drive Ralph and we'll meet you at he hospital."

She looked towards Ralph, not wanting to leave him after everything that had just happened.

"Go mom, Walter needs you." She was equally surprised and comforted by her son's words. She knelt down and gave him a hug.

"Miss, we have to leave now."

Paige ran her hand through her son's hair and quickly followed the paramedic to the ambulance where Walter remained unconscious.

* * *

><p>Before Paige could register what was happening, they had arrived at the hospital and Walter was being rolled into the emergency room.<p>

Paige felt as though she was standing still in a world where everything was moving forward. Doctors and nurses were racing around her dealing with an array of emergencies as she stood motionless staring at where Walter had been taken. There was one doctor and three nurses taking his vitals as he disappeared deeper into the hospital.

It was her fault that he was here.

"They're doing everything they can." Paige was pulled from her thoughts as the paramedic who brought Walter in began to speak to her.

Paige just nodded, unsure of what words she would be able to form.

"How long have you two been together?" It was strange for a medic to pry into people's personal lives; but Paige could tell that she was just trying to distract her from what was going on around her.

"Oh, we're not _together_." She stated as the sides of her mouth curved up slightly.

"You could've fooled me." The paramedic stated with a smile.

"Is he going to be okay?" Paige appreciated the attempt at a distraction, but her mind wouldn't allow for a thought other than Walter's well being.

"From what I can tell, he has a major concussion. The doctors here are going to have to perform tests to figure out why he hasn't woken up yet."

The paramedic placed her hand on Paige's arm before turning to leave the hospital. Before she exited, Paige quickly turned around.

"Thank you."

The paramedic nodded and headed out to join her partner in their ambulance. Paige's eyes began to wonder, looking for Ralph.

_They should be here by now_. She thought to herself.

As the thought made it's way through her mind, her eyes spotted her son and Cabe approaching.

"How's Walter?" Cabe was concerned and Ralph appeared uncomfortable with the whole situation.

Paige couldn't answer the question; she had no idea whether or not Walter was going to be okay.

"Paige?" She turned her head at the sound of her name. Walking towards her was Toby, Happy, and Sylvester.

"We got Cabe's message, what happened?" Toby was legitimately concerned; not just about Walter, but also about Paige and Ralph.

Paige turned to Cabe and gave him a look that thanked him for calling the rest of the team. After everything that had happened, it had slipped her mind.

"I asked Walter to come over to help explain Drew leaving to Ralph." Her eyes involuntarily closed as she recalled the events in her apartment. "Then Drew showed up."

Happy's expression turned from worry to anger as she put the pieces together. Sylvester's nervous hand twitches remained constant and Toby's mouth scrunched up at the thought of Drew hurting any member of their team.

"When he got in he was so angry," her eyes opened as fear and sadness crept into her features. "Walter hit him and before I knew what was happening, Drew hit him back and he was unconscious on the floor. He started kicking Walter in the stomach and he wouldn't stop."

Immediately after Paige finished retelling the events that occurred less than an hour earlier, Happy's anger reached its peak. She hit her hand against the counter top, causing nurses, doctors and patients to look towards the group.

"I need some air." Happy spit out as she stormed outside.

Happy had always coped by expressing anger. The idea that Walter could have brain damage caused her to lose control. His brain was what made Walter who he was. He had formed Scorpion with his brilliant mind and she feared what would happen if he lost it.

"I'll go check on her." Toby stated as he hastily followed her out of the hospital.

Paige remained standing opposite Sylvester, Ralph and Cabe.

"I'm sorry." Her words were almost inaudible under her near silent sobs, "I'm so sorry."

"Paige, this wasn't your fault." Sylvester tried to reassure her, but he could tell that she didn't believe him.

If there was one thing that Paige could do, it was hold guilt. Ever since Walter had informed her that Ralph wasn't challenged, but rather a genius, she had felt guilty for not noticing earlier. She would hold guilt on the smallest of things, one of which being that she never realized Ralph liked chess until that day in the diner. Before meeting Scorpion, Paige had tried for years to connect with her son and hadn't been able to. And now, Walter was hurt because of her. He could lose the thing he cares the most about because of her.

Interrupting her thoughts was the sight of the doctor who had been working on Walter. He made his way to the group of people as Happy and Toby returned. Happy still looked upset, but it was evident that Toby had calmed her down.

"Are you here for Mr. O'Brien?" The doctor asked.

"Yes." The whole team answered simultaneously.

"Mr. O'Brien suffered from a severe head injury, caused by a blunt force trauma to the front of the head."

Paige recalled seeing Drew's fist hitting Walter's face. Since he was under the influence of alcohol, he missed Walter's eye and hit him in the forehead. She cringed at the memory, hoping that Walter would recover.

"Since Mr. O'Brien remained unconscious for a long period of time, I ordered a Cranial CT Scan in order to properly evaluate the possible damage to his brain."

"What kind of damage are we talking about?" Cabe was trying to sound strong, but Paige could sense the worry in his voice.

"There is no way of knowing until he wakes up."

"When will that be?" Paige chimed in, desperate for answers.

"If you could wait in the waiting room, I will have a nurse come get you as soon as we know anything more."

"Can we see him?" Sylvester asked the doctor with nervous tension pouring from his words.

Sylvester was not only nervous because of Walter's condition, but also being in a hospital. He had always been weary of the germs that lurked, however it had gotten worse since he had been a patient. Being in a hospital reminded him that Scorpion was no longer a little cave that would keep him and his team safe. Nothing proved that idea more than today's events. If they could be attacked in Paige's own home, was anywhere really safe at all?

"Not yet. I will oversee his scans and conduct the rest of his tests, then you will be able to se him." The doctor turned and left the group to absorb his words.

Sylvester nodded, wanting this experience to be over as soon as possible.

* * *

><p>It had been just over an hour when the doctor returned to the waiting room. Ralph was sleeping with his head on Paige's lap. Happy and Toby sat side by side on the couch, comforting one another with their warmth. Sylvester was beside Paige, as they tried to keep each other calm and Cabe sat opposite of Paige with eyes glazed over.<p>

They were all in their own little worlds. Toby was thinking about all the times that Walter had gotten him out of a sticky situation. Happy recalled the times she had to pull Walter out of the rabbit hole, and feared how this situation had the potential to be worse. Sylvester was doing calculations in his head to avoid thinking about being in a hospital and Paige replayed the night's events over and over again.

Cabe sat staring into space thinking about all the interactions that he had ever had with the genius. He cared about Walter like a son. As he looked towards Paige and a sleeping Ralph, he made the commitment to himself that no matter what happens with Walter, he would look after them. He knew that Walter saw a mini version of himself in Ralph and he would want him to watch out for the young boy.

Ralph's eyes opened as the doctor approached. He sat up and rubbed his eyes as memories of why he was at the hospital flooded his mind.

"Is he okay?" Paige asked as the doctor approached them.

"Mr. O'Brien doesn't appear to have suffered any life threatening trauma to the body."

Paige let out a deep sigh of relief as she held her son close.

"He does have three cracked ribs, and some swelling in the brain. His respiratory and circulatory systems appear to be functioning normally."

"What about his brain?" Toby asked when he noticed the doctor hadn't informed them of Walter's mental state.

"He suffered a severe head injury, so we will not know his state until he wakes up. It is important that when he does, everyone is very patient with him."

"What do you mean?" Happy questioned, with stiff facial features still hardened on her face.

"It is possible that Mr. O'Brien will be confused and withdrawn when he regains consciousness. He may become dizzy and experience confusion for long periods of time."

The team looked at the doctor, who didn't realize the ramifications of his words. For a man like Walter O'Brien, confusion had the potential to destroy everything that he had worked so hard to accomplish.

"If you would like to see him now, you can."

"Can we all go?" Sylvester asked with slight impatience.

"Yes, for a moment. Considering the circumstances of the situation," The doctor looked towards Cabe, who had clearly flashed his badge at him, "Two of you may chose to stay overnight if you wish."

The doctor led them all to the room where Walter was laying unconscious with tubes running into and out of his body. The steady beeping from the heart monitor simultaneously comforted and frightened Paige.

They all stared at him for several minutes before the nurse on call informed them that they would have to leave.

Toby nodded at Happy and Sylvester, then turned towards Cabe.

"We're off now." Cabe told Paige as she kept her eyes locked on Walter.

"What?" She asked, unclear of what he was implying.

"Only two people can stay overnight. Since Ralph is still on winter break from school, you and he can stay the night."

Before Paige had a chance to argue, Toby, Sylvester, and Happy had already left and Cabe had placed his hand on her shoulder.

"He would want to see you two when he wakes up." Cabe gave her a tight smile before heading out of the room.

Paige felt Ralph's hand join hers. She looked down to see her son staring up at her. No words were exchanged between the two, yet they both knew what to do.

Paige pulled over the chair from the window and set in next to Walter's bed. She took a seat and took Walter's hand in her own. If she had had any left, tears would have flowed down her cheeks. She closed her eyes and whispered apologies to the unconscious genius before falling asleep.

She had intended for Ralph to join her in the large chair, but he had an idea of his own.

Ralph looked on and saw his sleeping mother holding Walter's hand. He casually walked over to the window and tried to push the other chair over to Walter's bed. He used all his strength but it wasn't enough to move the chair. Luckily, a nurse passing by saw the boy and entered the room. She quietly pushed the chair over to the other side of Walter's bed.

"You have a beautiful family." She whispered towards Ralph before heading back out into the hallway. Ralph climbed up on the chair and looked towards Walter and his mother.

He folded one arm on the bed and set his head down on it. He looked about and thought to himself about the likelihood that Walter would wake up soon. As he felt a wave of exhaustion overcome him, he took his hand and placed it in Walter's. He felt the warmth from the man's hand surrounding his own as he dozed off.

**A/N: I hope you liked this chapter! It was a bit longer than usual – let me know what you thought about the story and the length!**

**Thank you for Reading/Reviewing and have a Happy New Year!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I am REALLY sorry for the delayed update! A quick thank you to everyone who has stuck by this story! Enjoy the chapter!**

Walter's eyes opened slowly as his mind took in blurry images of his surroundings. Memories flooded his brain of the last moments he could recall.

He remembered being in Paige's room with Ralph. They could hear Drew talking about how he loved her and then everything went silent. He could only imagine what was happening in the living room. He recalled looking towards Ralph and telling him to stay there. Without thinking, he stormed out of Paige's room and was overcome by anger at the sight. He saw Drew kissing Paige as she tried with her entirety to push him off. Feeling his body overcome with heat and rage, he remembered hastily walking over to the duo and punching Drew off of Paige. He remembered turning to face her but then everything went black.

His eyes attempted to open one more time. It was dark in the room, he made the assumption it was the middle of the night. He closed his eyes, not liking the way his eyes were slowly adjusting to the dim lights in the room. He felt a sharp pain coming from his lower chest. He inferred that his ribs faced a strong force while he was unconscious. He heard the sound of a steady beeping; _a_ _heart monitor,_ he thought to himself. As he focused on the single sense of hearing, another sense jumped around in his mind; the sense of touch.

While Walter's arms were rather chilly, his hands felt warm. It was a strange feeling that didn't make sense to the genius. If his arms were over top of the blankets, then his hands should be too. Unless of course he was wearing gloves, but that wasn't a probable situation.

After running several scenarios through his mind about how and why his hands were warm, he decided to use his sense of sight to properly evaluate the strange feeling.

He opened his eyes slowly, allowing just a little bit of light to reach his pupils. He was definitely not expecting what he saw.

On his left hand side, Walter saw Paige sleeping with both her hands wrapped around his own. Strangely, the contact didn't make him uncomfortable. Her soft hands soothed his pain ever so slightly.

His eyes travelled to where his left hand was. When they approached their destination, he saw Ralph sleeping with a single hand placed inside his own. Unlike Paige's full encasement of Walter's hand, Ralph's tiny hand was merely placed inside Walter's. The sight made him smile, he didn't know why but he liked the feeling that holding hands gave him.

Walter found himself staring at the sleeping Dineens for several minutes. No equations or calculations filled his mind, merely the bliss of the moment he was in.

"You're awake?" The words caused Walter to refocus his mind, which had drifted.

The words came from his right hand side, where Ralph sat up in the large chair.

"Hey Ralph." Walter replied in a quiet tone, not wanting to wake Paige. "How long have I been out?"

Ralph didn't respond; he just shrugged as if he didn't know. However Walter knew that Ralph could give the exact amount of time he had been asleep, but for some reason he would't.

"What's wrong?" Walter asked, shifting his body to better face the young boy. The movement caused his ribs to cry out in pain, but he ignored the sensation.

"Nothing." Ralph replied as his head lowered ever so slightly. His face held a frown and saddened eyes.

"We only state facts." Walter said, knowing it would case a reaction from Ralph.

His tiny body shifted in the chair as he looked up at Walter.

They sat looking at each other in silence for several moments. Walter wasn't going to push.

"I'm scared."

His words caused Walter's heart to break. All his life he had hidden his emotions from the people around him; he had known they were there, but never told anyone.

He sat staring at Ralph, conflicted about how to reply. Since he had never intentionally shown emotion, he didn't have any idea how to confront people who expressed them.

"I know it was scary." Walter responded.

Since Ralph was a mini version of himself, he responded with how he would have liked to be comforted as a child.

"But it's over now." He said, inferring from his current situation that Drew would be locked up for a long time. "You're mom is safe and so are you."

Both Walter and Ralph looked towards Paige, who was still sound asleep. They both smiled while looking at her peaceful silhouette. When they turned back to each other, they continued talking.

"I know."

"What are you upset about?"

Walter gave him a minute to gather his thoughts. Neither Walter nor Ralph noticed that Paige had slowly woken up. She stayed in her sleeping position, but her eyes had opened and closed several times. Since she was exhausted, she closed her eyes to try to fall back asleep, but her ears will still open; she could hear their conversation.

"Are you going to be okay Walter?"

Walter hadn't expected the boy's worry to be attributed to his own well being. Simultaneously, Paige bit her bottom lip, she too was desperate to know Walter's answer.

"I will be okay." Walter replied, "Just a little banged up."

Ralph nodded, feeling more at ease then he had previously been. Paige smiled to herself as she heard Walter's words.

When Walter noticed that Ralph still wasn't back to his old self, he held onto the boy's hand a little tighter. His actions were an attempt to reassure the boy.

"I am not going anywhere."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

A smile formed on Ralph's face, which was soon mirrored by Walter. A tiny tear fell onto Walter's left hand. His eyes followed the sensation towards Paige, who he could tell was secretly awake. He wasn't sure what to do, so he gently squeezed her hand once as well. He watched as she began to smile. The sight caused a strange feeling to form in his stomach; it was tingly.

The three of them sat, dozing off and waking up in a cycle for three more hours.

When Walter's eyes opened, he knew he had been asleep for a while because it was bright outside his window and there was a lot of noise coming from the hallway. His eyes adjusted to the presence of bright lights in his room as he examined his surroundings.

The first thing he noticed was that his hands were cold.

It was a small feeling, but it left him in a pool of disappointment. When he heard the quiet whispers of a woman and child, he turned his head to locate the pair.

For a couple of minutes, he watched them interact by the windows. They had moved one of the chairs back to its original spot and were standing in front of it. Walter noticed how much better Paige was able to interact with Ralph. He recalled the first time he saw them in the diner and noticed how Ralph pulled away at her touch. Now, things between them had immensely improved.

"Did we wake you?" Paige whispered towards Walter as she noticed his eyes were open and staring at her.

"No."

"Good." Paige smiled at him with eyes lingering longer than usual.

"You're up." Ralph stated with a giant smile on his face.

"Yes!"

"I made this for you." Ralph handed Walter a sheet of paper. He opened it and saw an algorithm. "It's for you to solve when you get bored."

"Thank you." Walter smiled, making a mental note to complete it later on. He placed it down on his bedside table.

"Good morning Walter." The familiar voice comforted him as he shot his head towards the door to his room.

Megan was making her way to the chair that remained beside Walter's bed. She sat down and let out a huff of satisfaction for being able to sit.

Confused, Walter looked towards Paige who whispered that Sylvester had called her after he had left the hospital.

"You have got to stop doing this." Megan told Walter.

"Doing what?" He asked, even though he knew what his sister was about to say.

"Putting yourself in danger." She looked into his eyes, pleading for him to understand, "You have to be more careful Walter."

No one noticed Paige's head dip in shame at Megan's words. Paige knew that he was only in the hospital because of her.

"It's not that bad." Walter stated with light laughter.

His sister just glared at him, giving him a knowing look.

Before Megan had a chance to interrogate him further, a doctor entered the room.

"How are you feeling today Mr. O'Brien?" The male doctor questioned. It was the same man whom Paige and the rest of Team Scorpion had met the night before.

"Never been better." Walter stated, trying to ease the tension in the room. Paige and Megan just stared at him with worry, but Ralph cracked a smile.

"I'm going to ask that you rest for several more hours under hospital observation, then we will send you home tonight if everything looks good."

Before Walter had a chance to argue about the best method of recovery, Paige interjected.

"We will head out and let you sleep then."

She could see the slight flash of disappointment that crossed Walter's face.

"Ralph needs to eat. We will go down to the cafeteria for lunch, and then come back. You need to rest Walter."

"Okay." He nodded, understanding where she was coming from.

"Would you like to join us Megan?" Paige asked.

"That would be great thanks." She replied as she stood up from the chair.

"See you later Walter." Ralph smiled at Walter and then followed his mom and Megan into the hallway.

"I will be back in a hour or so to check on you. Get some rest Mr.O'Brien." The doctor stated before going to check on another patient.

Walter tried to sleep, but he wasn't tired. He stared at the ceiling tiles for five minutes before huffing out of bored frustration.

His eyes wondered around the room before settling on a folded piece of white paper. He remembered that Ralph had given him the algorithm to work on. He leaned over and grabbed the sheet from his bedside table.

He opened it and began to read it over.

He read it again.

And again.

Walter blinked several times before looking back at the sheet of paper. His heart began to pound faster as a feeling that resembled fear overcame him.

Walter O'Brien couldn't figure out how to solve the algorithm.

**Thank you for Reading/Reviewing! **


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Sorry for the late update! I hope everyone likes the chapter!**

An hour later Paige, Megan, and Ralph had finished eating lunch and were now staring at one another in silence. They knew that Walter was supposed to be relaxing, but they couldn't stand the thought of leaving him alone in his condition.

"So," Paige stated while trying to hide her anticipation, "Should we go back up to Walter's room now?"

"He's supposed to be resting." Megan replied.

Paige could tell that she wanted to see her brother, but was trying to follow the doctor's orders.

"You're right." Paige said with disappointment that mirrored Megan's.

"He's probably not sleeping." Ralph said in a quiet tone. "If I were him, I would be counting the ceiling tiles or going through algorithms in my head. I don't think it would be a bother to go and see him."

Paige smiled at her son; he too wanted to see Walter.

After resting her eyes on her son for several moments, Paige looked towards Megan. It was clear that she was debating what would be best for Walter.

"Okay, but I don't want to wake him if he's sleeping."

"One of us should go check to see if he's asleep." Ralph said even though he was sure Walter wasn't sleeping.

Paige looked towards Megan as they had a silent conversation of who would go and check on Walter. Megan could see the desperation that Paige was trying to hide on her face.

"You go ahead, I'll watch Ralph." Megan stated with a smile.

"Are you sure?" Paige asked with a slightly shocked expression.

"Yes. It's too hard for me to go all the way up there, especially if he's sleeping and I have to come all the way back down."

Mobility was part of the reason that Megan let Paige go, but it wasn't the complete reason.

Megan could tell that there was something going on with her brother and Paige. It was the little looks that they shared and the way that he opened up around her. But she also knew that Walter could be difficult to communicate with. He had grown close to her after years of growing up together, but he was never good with girlfriends. As Megan looked at the woman, she got the feeling that Paige and Walter were different; She couldn't think of any other word to explain their connection.

"Ralph are you okay to stay here with Megan?"

Ralph nodded, feeling comfortable around the woman knowing that she was Walter's sister.

"If I'm not back in five minutes, that means Walter's awake and you guys can come up." Paige said as she stood up and grabbed the trays on the table to throw out. She ran a hand through Ralph's hair and mouthed thank you to Megan before making her way up to Walter's room.

* * *

><p>Paige entered the room quietly, half expecting a sleeping Walter. When her eyes locked on his body, a shiver of fear overcame her. She had no idea what was happening and worse, she had no idea how to help.<p>

"Walter?" Paige asked with a worried tone as she made her way towards the genius.

Walter was sitting in the hospital bed with hands twitching at a pace that rivalled Sylvester's. His eyes were frozen in place as he blinked over and over again every 2 seconds. Walter's body was stiff and Paige couldn't help but wonder how long he had been in this state.

"Walter!" Paige yelled, hoping it would pull him out of his trance. It didn't work.

Paige continued to stare at Walter, recognizing his actions. She knew that he must be frustrated or panicking about something; he matched how Ralph looks when he can't solve something.

"Walter, please." Paige had never seen anyone enter the rabbit hole that everyone in the cyclone was always talking about, but she feared this was it.

She was beginning to panic; she had no idea what to do. Tears swelled in her eyes as she looked at a frozen Walter. She didn't like seeing him this way.

Paige thought back to when Ralph would get frustrated and what she would do to help. Since she was not a genius, she could only approach it the way she knew how; as a mother. She would provide Ralph with comfort and encouragement until his frustration was gone.

Without a moment's hesitation, Paige sat on the side of Walter's bed so that her face was mere feet away from Walter's.

She placed her hands on his cheeks and positioned his head so that he was looking directly at her.

"Walter. I'm right here. Tell me what's wrong." Her voice was steady. It took all her will power to hide her nervousness with the situation.

When she saw him gulp, she knew that he was trying to tell her something but the words wouldn't pass his lips.

Knowing that he would be unable to tell her, Paige took it upon herself to find out what made him upset.

_Since he was still in his bed, it must have been something that he was doing while sitting down_, Paige thought to herself.

She looked around and saw a scrunched up piece of white paper on the floor against the wall. From what she could tell, he threw it across the room.

She hastily removed her hands from Walter's face and ran over to retrieve the paper.

Her back was turned so she didn't see the flash of disappointment that crossed Walter's face after her hands departed.

Paige unravelled the sheet of paper and saw her son's handwriting. She recognized it as the paper that Ralph gave him before they headed down from lunch. She glanced to Walter, then back at the paper and realized that Walter must be having difficulty solving the algorithm. She remembered what the doctor had said about confusion. She couldn't imagine what Walter was feeling.

She brought the paper back to the bed and sat it down before she too took a seat.

"It's okay." Her voice was soft and reassuring. "Walter, it's okay."

"I-" He stumbled on the sound of his own voice, "I can't solve it."

Walter looked petrified at the thought that he couldn't solve a simple algorithm. He feared what would happen and how his life would change. He had ben running scenarios though his head since he had realized that he couldn't figure it out.

"You can, maybe not yet, but you can." She swallowed the lump in her throat and continued. "You hurt your head, it might take time to be able to focus, but you will be able to."

When Walter didn't respond, Paige dipped her head as tears slowly travelled down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry Walter. I'm so sorry." Her voice was broken and something about that caused Walter to stop running scenarios.

"For what?" He asked, confused with why she was apologetic.

"It's my fault you got hurt. I'm the reason that you're confused and your-" Before she had a chance to continue, Walter interjected.

"This isn't you're fault Paige."

"It is. He only hit you because you hit him. And you only hit him because-"

"I hit him because I wanted to. You can't take responsibility for my actions. I made the choice to hit him and I would do it again."

Paige looked back up to Walter as a smile crept into her features.

"You're going to be able to solve it."

Walter looked at the sheet of paper; he had forgotten about the algorithm. Paige could see that he was about to start panicking about the algorithm again so she put her hands on his face and spoke.

"Close your eyes."

"Why?" He asked, with the shock from her warmth still present on his face.

"Just do it Walter." She told him playfully.

He closed his eyes.

"Think of a black hole. Don't think of anything except emptiness."

This was a challenge for Walter, but he completed the task.

"Now slowly think about the algorithm that Ralph gave you."

After a minute, Paige continued.

"Slowly approach the question and be patient with yourself."

Paige had no idea how Walter approached problems in his head, but she hoped that she was helping rather than hurting,

After several minutes of silence, Walter's voice rung through the room.

"I got it!" Walter couldn't help but be excited. When he took a step back from the question and didn't let his head overthink, he was able to solve it.

Paige mirrored his smile and they both were ecstatic. It seemed silly to Walter that he was so happy with having solved such a simple algorithm, but he couldn't help it.

Their smiles slowly faded, but their hearts were still beating fast.

Paige realized that her hands were still on Walter's face, so she removed them. As her hands pleaded for his warmth, her face received it.

Walter had put his hands on her face. Paige looked confused with his action, as if reading her mind he began to speak.

"I just wanted to see what it felt like."

"It feels nice on my end." She replied shyly.

"Mine too."

Paige blinked several times to make sure that she was seeing correctly; Walter's face seemed to be coming closer and closer to hers.

Instinctively she tilted her head as Walter got closer.

She could feel his breath on her lips as her heart pounded out of control.

Before their lips touched, their attention was drawn to an artificial coughing sound coming from the doorframe.

Turning their heads, Walter and Paige saw Ralph and Megan standing in the doorway staring at them.

Walter quickly removed his hands from her face as she jumped off the side of the bed.

"It had been longer than five minutes so we came up to see Walter." Megan said, trying to hide her amusement with the scene.

"Okay." Paige said as she walked towards her son, who remained silent. Her cheeks were red and she breathed slowly, trying to regain composure.

The silence in the room was deafening.

"Anyways," Megan said to break the awkward silence as she sat down in the chair by the window.

As she continued speaking, Walter and Paige's eyes locked. She lightly smiled at him and he returned the gesture.

Neither of them had any idea what just happened, but they both knew they wanted to try it again.

**Sorry again for the long wait! Thank you for Reading/Reviewing!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: 100+ Reviews! You guys are awesome! I sincerely appreciate all the wonderful things that people have to say about this story! THANK YOU!**

"Paige?" Walter's eyes opened after what felt like an eternity of sleep, "Paige?"

"I'm right here."

Walter's eyes were greeted with the familiar face of Paige Dineen. She and Ralph had stayed another night at the hospital. Walter sent Megan back, reassuring her that he would be all right and she needed a proper bed to sleep in.

"What time is it?" Walter spoke quietly not wanting to wake Ralph, who was asleep in Paige's arms.

She slowly shifted her son's body so that she could see the time on her watch.

"Around 4 in the morning."

"You two should really go."

Paige's head shot backwards lightly as his statement took her aback. Noticing the change in her demeanour, Walter realized he must have said something wrong.

"I just mean that you two should get some real rest." Walter's eyes shifted towards Ralph. He ran his hands through the boy's hair as he continued speaking. "He needs to sleep in his own bed."

"I know." She replied softly, smiling at the sight of Walter interacting with her son. "You're out of here tomorrow, so we will go home after we drop you off."

"Have you heard from Cabe?"

Without responding, Paige gave him a stern look.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"No."

"No what?"

"You're not going on any assignments or tackling any problems for a while."

"Paige, it's my job."

"You're job is to help people; something you cannot do if you're unable to focus and concentrate."

Knowing he wouldn't win this battle, Walter merely nodded towards Paige.

"Get some sleep." Paige said, cutting off Walter's thoughts.

As she began to close her eyes and try to get some rest herself, Walter began to speak.

"About earlier…"

Paige's cheeks blushed as she recalled the sensation of his lips being so close to hers.

"I don't know what came over me." He said in a nearly inaudible tone.

Paige bit her lip in response, nodding her head as she tried to understand what that meant.

"You and Ralph mean a lot to me." The words barely made their way out of Walter's mouth.

She couldn't imagine how he was feeling. If she had been mesmerized by the situation, he must have been as well. With senses heightened, she eagerly awaited to hear what Walter had to say.

"I think it's best…"

He wanted with his entirety to say '_that we try it again'._ He was desperate to be closer to her. However, like Walter always did, he let his head outrun his heart. As he looked towards Ralph, then back at Paige, he thought about what could happen if anything were to develop between the adults.

Knowing that he had never been able to hold onto a relationship with a girl, he decided to put Paige and Ralph's best interests above his own desires.

"I think it's best if we just forget about what happened."

Silence overcame the room as if everyone had forgotten how to speak.

_I am so stupid._

Paige couldn't help but condemn herself for thinking that they could have been anything more than friends. His statement genuinely shocked her; she knew that he didn't believe in love, but she thought that he felt something for her.

She could feel tears pushing at her eyes as she realized that she could never have a relationship with him. She had spent the last several hours thinking about nothing but their near kiss. Now, she knew that it was the most that would ever happen between them.

She wanted to get up and run out of the room, but she knew that would wake her son.

"Paige?"

Walter didn't know why he said her name. He knew that she was deep in thought. He pushed his head further back into his pillow and internally cursed himself for lying to her. He felt bolts of electricity run through him whenever he was close to her. He couldn't scientifically or logically explain the feeling, but he knew it was real.

Walter didn't want to put any more stress into Paige or Ralph's life. After what had happened with Drew, he knew that they needed space.

Neither of them wanted to say anything; Paige was too distraught to speak and Walter didn't want to verbally deny his feelings again.

The two of them sat in silence for hours as they waited for the morning sun to greet them and the young boy in Paige's arms to wake.

* * *

><p>Ralph's eyes opened slowly as he felt a stinging in his back. Sleeping curled up in a chair was uncomfortable for both him and him mom.<p>

He waited several moments before he began to speak.

"Mom?" He spoke quietly, thinking that her or Walter could still be sleeping.

"I'm right here." She answered, still trying to fight the tears in her eyes.

Ralph stood up and walked closer to Walter's bed. He jumped up and sat on the side of it when he noticed that Walter was awake.

Once he departed his mother's lap, Paige stood up to stretch her legs. She felt wobbly at their numbness and had to grab onto the chair for support. Her back was turned so she never saw the look of fear that passed Walter's face as he saw her almost fall to the ground.

She briefly looked at her almost invisible reflection in the window and fixed her hair before turning to face Ralph.

The sight caused her heart to rip.

She saw her son siting beside Walter with a huge smile on his face as they exchanged words.

After Walter had told her that he wanted to forget about what had happened, she had convinced herself that she would get over it. So many people had hurt her in her lifetime, yet something was different this time.

"How are you feeling today Mr. O'Brien?" The doctor said optimistically as he entered the room.

Paige was grateful for the distraction.

"Good." He lied. Walter was distressed and conflicted about what to do with Paige. He could neglect his feelings and spare her heartache, or be selfish and pursue a relationship. It killed him, but he knew he would go with his first choice.

"It seems as though you are ready to head home this morning. As I've told your friends," the doctor said as he glanced at Paige, "You're going to need to rest and not work your brain too hard. If you find it difficult to concentrate, sit down for a moment. If the confusion gets to be too much, call us so we can re-evaluate your condition."

Walter nodded.

"But I don't think that will happen. You seem to have good friends around to keep you in check." He said with a smile.

"Will you be driving him home?" The doctor asked Paige.

She had forgotten about that.

"We can!" Toby stated gleefully as he entered the room with Happy and Sylvester. "You two should really go home and clean up."

Everyone in the room noticed the seemingly insulting comment.

"What Toby means to say," Sylvester jumped in, "is that you and Ralph have been in a hospital for a couple days and the amount of bacteria here is astonishing. Not to mention that the chair you've been sleeping on likely harbours hundreds if not thousands of variant forms of diseases."

Paige looked at the chair then back to Sylvester and suddenly felt a dire need to shower.

"Good idea." She said as she motioned for her son to join her. "We will head home now."

"I want to stay with Walter." Ralph said with a look of disappointment sprawled on his face.

"You can come to the garage later on," Happy said reassuringly towards Ralph, "If that's okay with your mom?"

Paige nodded and grabbed her son's hand. It was clear no one had caught on to the tension between her and Walter.

"See you later." Paige tapped Sylvester on the shoulder and smiled towards the rest of the team, excluding Walter, before she and Ralph headed towards the elevator.

"What was that all about?" Toby said with a smirk as he stood beside Walter

"Nothing."

"You know that I can tell you're lying, right?"

"I said nothing happened Toby." Walter sated sternly.

Toby had always sensed that something was going on between Walter and Paige. It was strange when he offered the waitress a job, and how he would defend her to the rest of the team. He didn't need to be a genius to know that something had happened that was causing tension between them.

He put his hands up in the air, "Whatever you say."

"Alright, you're free to go Mr. O'Brien." The doctor joked as he entered with the discharge papers. He could tell that the patient's friends, particularly Sylvester, did not want to be there much longer.

As Toby walked to Happy's side, Sylvester was trying his best not to touch anything in the room.

Walter thought to himself about what he was going to do next. He didn't want to impose on Paige's life, but he also couldn't stand the thought of them not being together.

* * *

><p>Ralph had cleaned up and was napping in his room when Paige stepped out of the shower. She continued to get ready and put on a fresh pair of clothes. She walked by her son's room and saw him sound asleep in his bed. She smiled at the sight.<p>

Her thought's wondered back to Walter. She was still worried about him; she feared that he might not be able to concentrate with his concussion and what that would do to him. She knew that she had to put aside whatever feelings she had, not only for her son's sake but also for Walter's.

As she was about to call Happy to let them know that they would be on their way once Ralph woke up, she heard a knock at the door.

Paige made her way towards the front door and wondered who it could be.

_Maybe Cabe came to pick us up? _

She pulled her phone out of her pocket to see if she had any missed calls. She didn't.

_Cabe always calls before he comes._

She had a slight feeling of panic that it could be Walter standing outside her door. She didn't know if she could handle having another devastating conversation with him.

As she turned the door handle, she gradually saw who was standing on the other side.

She didn't know how it was possible. Standing in front of her was a man that she thought she would never see again.

Before she had a chance to press her speed dial, she felt a mist being sprayed in her face. The sensation of dizziness overcame her as she felt herself stumble to the ground.

With disbelief and confusion filling in her mind, her world went black.

**A/N 2: I am very excited about the next couple of chapters! I'd love to know what you thought about this chapter!**

**Thank you for Reading/Reviewing!**


	13. Chapter 13

"Have you heard from Paige?" Happy walked into the main room where Sylvester was doing calculations, Toby was reading two books at once and Walter was working on his MS research.

Walter knew he should be resting instead, but he felt as though he was wasting precious time when his sister direly needed his help.

The mention of Paige pulled Walter from his thoughts as he hastily looked towards the mechanical genius.

"Why?" Walter asked without a moments hesitation.

"She was supposed to call when her and Ralph were on their way over. It's been hours; I thought they would be here by now."

"Is that worry I hear in your voice?" Toby said mockingly as he put his books down and made his way towards Happy.

Instead of a snarky response as he would have expected, Happy just gulped and looked towards the other team members.

Noticing her demeanour, Toby concluded that she was bothered about something.

"Happy? What is it?" Toby's voice was lined with concern, which drew Sylvester's attention from his chalkboard.

"I didn't want to say anything if I wasn't sure. Usually it wouldn't be a big deal, but after everything that's happened-"

"Say what Happy?" Walter stood up from his desk as curiosity crept into his features.

"It's probably nothing, but I've called the house 15 times and Paige's cell phone 10 times and there is no answer."

"Let's track her phone," Toby interjected, "it's better to be safe than sorry."

"I just did." Happy replied, "It says she's at home."

"But she's not answering." Sylvester said nervously.

"What were the time intervals you called at?" Walter questioned, trying to find valid reason for the unanswered calls.

"I called at various times; every fifteen minutes, then ten, then five."

"Paige would have noticed the urgency in the frequent calls." Toby said as he took a step closer to Happy.

"Even if she didn't, Ralph would have picked up after seeing our name on the caller ID."

Walter began pacing back and fourth, running scenarios through his mind about what could be going on at the Dineen household.

He grabbed his phone from his pocket and began dialling.

"Cabe?" He asked with urgency, "Is Drew still in custody?"

The rest of team eagerly waited to find out the answer.

"Okay. We may have a problem, I will call if we need assistance." Walter hung up the phone and updated the team.

"Drew is still in custody, so he doesn't have anything to do with this. I'm going to Paige's home to see if they're there."

Toby could tell that Walter was overworking. Not only was the concussion still weighing on him, worry also took it's toll.

"They could be sleeping." Toby stated reassuringly. "Either way, we're coming with you Walter."

The rest of the team silently acknowledged his words. As they drove, each of them was in their own mindset, yet they shared a common goal.

As the team approached their destination, they noticed Paige's red car parked outside.

Walter knocked on the front door several times.

"Paige?" Walter lightly yelled through the door, "Paige! It's Walter, let us in."

After no response was heard, they decided to enter. Walter placed his hand on the doorknob and turned it slightly.

"It's not locked." He whispered towards the others.

Happy held a stern facial expression, while Toby remained straight-faced. Unsurprisingly, Sylvester just looked nervous as he taped his fingers against his leg in a rhythmic pattern.

Walter slowly opened the door and peeked his head inside.

Everything looked to be in its place.

He slowly walked down the hallway to Ralph's room. He noticed that someone had been sleeping in the bed, but was not there anymore; the sheets were pulled back as if the young boy had been pulled from his sleep.

"Walter."

When he heard his name being called, he immediately headed back to the living room.

He walked in to see the other three members of the team staring at something on the dining room table.

"What is it?"

Walter walked around them as his eyes settled on a piece of paper with his name on it.

The handwriting was messy, so they knew it wasn't Paige's.

Beside it was her phone; it's screen was pitch black.

He quickly picked it up and began pressing buttons in an attempt to wake it up. He saw the 10 missed calls from happy before his eyes settled on her background photo. It was a picture of her and Ralph at one of his birthday parties. They looked so happy.

A notification popped up on the screen. Usually, he wouldn't have felt comfortable reading her messages, but he recognized this one as strange. The contact the message was listed under was named _For Walter_. He took this as reason enough to read the message.

Once he opened it, he recognized the words and worry rushed through him.

_I'll see you back down the rabbit hole Walter_

"Walter, was it is?" Happy asked.

"We have a problem."

"Walter?" Sylvester pleaded.

"Collins was here."

No more words needed to be shared among the group; they all understood the ramifications of his statement.

* * *

><p>The images were blurry at first, but gradually became clear. She blinked several times before attempting to sit up. Her hand went to her head as she remembered feeling confused and dizzy, but her memories were coming back slowly.<p>

Then she recalled opening the door and seeing the face of the man who almost set off a nuclear attack. Her nerves screamed as she remembered the sick smile that spread across his face as she realized who he was.

_Ralph._

Whatever composure she had left was gone as soon as she realized that her son could too be in danger.

Paige swung her head around the room, not noticing anything except the young boy curled against the wall.

"Ralph!" Her words were quick and quiet as she stumbled to her feet and raced towards her son.

Ralph looked towards his mom with wide eyes.

"He said he was Walter's friend."

Paige nodded, trying to hide her fear.

"When we got into the van, I saw you laying there. He said you were asleep but I knew he was lying."

"Did he hurt you?" Paige asked, internally begging for his answer to be _no._

"No."

She let out a relived breath.

"Did he tell you why we are here?" She hoped that he might have shared the reason with her son, seeing as he was probably be able to connect well with the genius.

"He just kept saying that he 'is worth it' and 'Walter will understand'." She could hear the fear in her son's voice so she held him close.

Paige looked around the room and could tell they were in a basement of some sorts. It looked similar to the basement of his old house by the nuclear power plant. But she knew that he was smarter then to bring them back there.

It wasn't a cage, there was even furniture. But the bars on the tiny window in the corner contributed to her understanding that they were indeed trapped.

Paige could hear the sounds of a key in a lock at the top of the stairs. She held her son closer as she heard heavy footsteps making their way down.

Once at the bottom of the stairwell, he looked at the two sitting curled up on the floor and smiled. His round glasses framed his dark eyes, much like the last time that she had seen him.

She recalled how he had claimed that Walter only had a relationship with Ralph so that he could attempt to repair his own youth. She shivered at the memory of him claiming she and Ralph were just another one of Walter's experiments.

He interrupted her thoughts as he began to speak and stepped closer to the duo.

"I don't get it. Him, I get." He said while pointing towards Ralph. "But you." His eyes squinted at her, as if he was trying to figure her out. "You don't make sense. I've spent months trying to figure it out. Walter said that I didn't have a place on the team anymore because you're the piece that binds them together-"

Paige was confused. She wasn't present when the two of them had this conversation, so she had nothing to defend herself with. One thing she hated about Mark Collins was that he made her feel inferior; he made her second guess herself and Walter.

"Why are we here?" She asked, knowing she wouldn't get a straight answer. Even if he did reveal any detail, it would be hidden in code that she wouldn't be able to crack.

"I told Walter I'd get out… and like our dear friend always says, 'I only state facts'."

**Thanks again for Reading/Reviewing!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I'm glad to see that people are still enjoying this story! It is such a pleasure every time I get a notification of a Favorite/Follow/Review. Please continue with the kindness and I hope you like this chapter!**

"How did he even get out?" Walter had been pacing back and fourth with his hands in his hair ever since he received the text message from Collins.

The team had called Cabe and forced Walter back into the van after surveying the rest of scene. They then headed back to the Scorpion Base. The team did their best work there and Toby concluded that Walter needed to get out of Paige's house; it was becoming too overwhelming for him.

Sylvester was at the computer running a trace on the phone number's origin. Collins had put the number being used to communicate with Walter into Paige's phone as a contact_. _The team knew that it would be a burner phone without GPS capabilities, but they ran the number anyways. Any indication of Collins' intentions would be helpful.

The slamming of the back door tugged Walter out of his thoughts. Cabe had arrived and looked furious with the situation.

"Fill me in." He stated firmly.

Without wasting a minute of time, Happy jumped in.

"When Paige didn't call, we decided to go over to their place to check things out. Her car was outside and the front door was unlocked. Both Paige and Ralph were gone."

Before Happy had a chance to finish, Walter cut in.

"It was Collins."

It took a moment for Cabe to register the information and erase the shock from his face.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Toby replied.

"Do we have any idea how long they've been gone for?" Cabe quickly questioned.

"Considering the fact that Paige's phone wasn't answered and they left the hospital 3 hours ago, by my calculations there's a 96% chance that it's been at least an hour and 47 minutes. We know that they had time to clean up by the damp towels hanging in the bathroom."

Sylvester's numbers did not comfort anyone.

"Maybe if I would have told someone that Paige wasn't picking up earlier-"

Toby could sense that Happy was guilt ridden for not mentioning something sooner.

"You had no reason to believe that anything like this would happen." He swallowed as he looked intently at her, "This isn't your fault."

Happy lightly nodded her head, knowing that reminiscing would not do anyone any good.

"How did Collins even get out?"

"He was moved from the military base to a federally operated mental institution." Sylvester read off of the computer screen. He had run a search after hacking the national database.

"That doesn't explain how he got out." Cabe said as he yanked his phone out of his pocket, "I will make some calls and see if I can find anything out."

Cabe left the room and Walter's face took on a unique shade of red. Noticing his strange coloring, Toby made his way over to Walter.

"They're going to be fine, Ralph is smart and Paige can fend for herself." Toby wasn't convinced that they were going to be fine, but he was determined to calm Walter down. He knew as much as the rest of team how dangerous Collins could be.

As the words left Toby's mouth, all Walter could think was _She shouldn't have to._ It killed him that Paige and Ralph were only in this situation because of him. Collins was his problem and he should have better dealt with it.

"What did you find out?" Happy asked eagerly as Cabe returned to the room.

"The head of the Institution here in L.A. was shocked to find out that Collins wasn't in his room. The guard who watches the patients had been signing the room check sheet claiming that Collins was in his room. The latest signature was an hour ago."

"Who is the guard?" Toby asked.

As Cabe opened his mouth to answer, the other team members chimed in.

"He could be involved." Sylvester stated with nerves pouring from his words.

"How long has he been doing that for?" Happy questioned, "Collins could have been out for weeks, if not months."

Walter had remained uncharacteristically silent until now.

"Lets go." Walter stated.

Cabe needed no explanation as to where the team was headed. The team needed to talk to this guard and figure out what Collins was planning.

* * *

><p>Paige held a scared Ralph in her arms as Collins paced from side to side. He appeared to be deeply thinking; most likely about what was going to happen next.<p>

Around the room, several numbers covered sticky noted that had been lazily scattered. The scene was not nearly as cluttered as his old basement. Paige assumed that he kept his timeline of numbers and data upstairs, away from prying eyes.

"What is it you want?" Paige asked with a soft voice. She didn't wasn't to upset Collins, who appeared already on edge.

He looked at her slowly and stuttered for a moment before beginning to speak.

"Me? What do I want? I want things to be the way they are supposed to be." The way the words were presented, it was as if Collins expected Paige to know what he meant.

Her eyes squinted slightly with confusion.

Paige's response caused Collins to giggle.

"I-I really don't know how Walter can put up with such intellectual inferiors. My visit to that pathetic excuse of an institution proved that normal people are completely useless."

He expected the comment to hurt Paige more than it did.

Paige had spent the last several months working with Scorpion and she had come to understand that they don't communicate like normal people. This resulted in her always giving them the benefit of the doubt, even when they had unintentionally said something hurtful.

Mark Collins was different though; he wanted to hurt Paige. He used his intelligence to get under people's skin. It bothered him that Paige wasn't offended by his comment, so he said something that he knew would bother her.

"You don't see it. But I do."

"See what?" Paige asked instinctively.

"People like Walter and I… Ralph even," He said as his eyes settled on the young boy, "we're fascinated by people like you and the way you think so small."

Paige's eyes locked with his as he continued. She was unsure where the conversation was going, but knew that it wasn't going to be complimentary.

"We want to observe and better understand the miniscule way that normal people live their lives. The point is, at the end of the day, geniuses don't need normals and Walter and Ralph will eventually understand that. You'll go back to being a waitress and having a son who doesn't even bother trying to communicate with you."

"That's not true." She tried to sound strong and defensive, but Collins caught the sadness in her voice and that only encouraged him further.

"Oh, but it is. Look at Sylvester, Toby and Walter… do they keep in touch with their mothers?"

Paige didn't respond because she knew the answer would be too satisfying for him.

"Nope!" He let out another giggle. "They don't! They keep in contact with each other. You seem to have this delusional idea that they will be different with you."

"That's because I know they will. I am important to them and they are important to me."

"That's what I thought too. I thought that I was valued as a team member, but they showed me their true feelings when they had me locked up."

Collins was first locked up long before Scorpion had met Paige or Ralph.

"What does this have to do with Ralph and I?"

"Don't you get it? You're blocking Walter's abilities! You are a distraction. When I was around Walter, we would explore the deep realms of his mind, but you're preventing him from expanding his intelligence. Once we're done here and you and Ralph are out of the picture, he'll realize that too."

Collins stood up straighter and felt a sigh of relief overcome him as he realized that his plan was going to work.

"Out of the picture?" Paige questioned. She held a little tighter onto her son who was fully aware of the conversation going on between the adults. In that moment, Paige realized what he meant.

"You wouldn't hurt him, he's just a boy."

Collins was committed to his cause and a little insane, but Paige doubted that he would hurt Ralph.

"I don't want to, but I must do what needs to get done."

His words caused a shiver to travel up Paige's spine as Ralph looked up at his mother.

"Ralph's intelligence will one day rival Walter's and my own, that is just going to distract Walter from what really needs to get done."

He began making his way to the stairwell.

Anger grew inside of Paige as she became simultaneously fearful for her son's life.

"And what is it that 'needs to get done'?"

Collins pushed up his glasses as he made his way upstairs.

"Scorpion - with just the two of us. The way it was always supposed to be."

**A/N 2: I will do my best to have another chapter out within a week. I hope this chapter didn't disappoint!**

**Thank you all for Reading/Reviewing.**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait, but here is another chapter! Enjoy!**

Walter sat impatiently in the passenger's side of the van as Happy drove the team to the institution where Collins had been held.

Toby, Sylvester and Cabe were not sure whether Happy driving them there was the best idea, but Walter was insistent. He knew that Happy would get them to their destination the fastest, and time was not on their side.

Walter had kept Paige's phone on him since they found it at her abandoned apartment. He knew that the device was the only way that Collins would try to contact him.

He was worried because he hadn't heard anything yet.

"We're here." Happy said quickly as she jumped out of the van. Walter followed in a similar fashion.

The rest of team members exited the vehicle slowly, trying to recover from the rollercoaster that is Happy's driving.

Cab managed to catch up to Walter as they entered the Los Angeles Institute for Mental Illness. As they approached the front desk where a young woman was sitting, Cabe grabbed his badge.

"Agent Cabe Gallo from Homeland, I called earlier today about a Mr. Mark Collins."

As Toby entered, he knew that the receptionist was an obedient citizen; she was displaying all the characteristics of someone who was happy to help government officials.

Happy kept the angry look on her face, while Sylvester was once again uncomfortable with being in a hospital.

"Mr. Gallo, I've called the director down. You can follow me to the meeting room." She gave an apologetic smile as she led the team to a white room at the end of the hallway.

"And the guard," Walter spoke up, "Will he be there as well?"

"Yes, he has been taken off duty until the matter can be settled. But Mr. Roch has kept him waiting for you."

She opened the door to the meeting room as the team shuffled in. There were several windows in the room, only the view was to the hallway rather than the outdoors.

Sylvester took note of the nurses and guards who were shuffling back and fourth. He noticed the white cards that each guard held onto and knew that they must be close to where they keep the patients. The thought did not comfort an already worried Sylvester.

Happy internally condemned herself for not noticing that something was wrong earlier. Toby could obviously tell that she was blaming herself because he stood right beside her and whispered jokes into her ear. She didn't laugh, but she really did appreciate his effort.

Cabe tapped his badge on the table as he was impatiently waiting for news and Walter was in his head running scenarios.

Unknowingly, the team had formed a line on one side of the table.

Interrupting all their thoughts and actions, the door opened and a man entered. He was older and had stress lines on his face. The team gathered that he was the director.

"Hello, I am Daniel Roch. First off, I would like to apologize for what has happened regarding Mr. Collins under my care." He seemed a bit nervous, but what he said next was full of purpose and promise, "But I can assure you that whomever is responsible will be punished. Since we are a small sector of the government that deals with severe security threats to this great nation, all of out guards are required to have military experience. How something like this could happen here is unbelievable to me. "

"Where is he?" Walter asked with no trace of patience in his voice, "The guard who has been claiming that Collins was still here."

"He'll be here in a couple of minutes," Daniel stated as he looked back out the door into the hallway. "But first, I thought this might help you."

He lifted up a cardboard box onto the table. Once the lid was removed, the team saw hundreds of pieces of paper. Written on them were large series of numbers. What caught Walter's attention was one yellow piece on the top; it was the only one with letters.

Written on it, was one word that had been circled at least a dozen times. It was as if it was the solution to Collins' problems.

_Dineen_

"This is everything that was collected from Mr. Collins' room. The guard is coming now." Daniel stated as he saw a duo walking towards them.

The man who had ben covering up for Collins' escape was young, maybe mid to late twenties. He looked nervous, unsurprisingly.

"Sit down." Cabe spat out.

The other guard, who had brought him in, quickly left the room as Daniel Roch closed the door.

"Why did you let Mark Collins out?"

No response.

"He looks guilty." Toby chimed in. "As he should. He is a criminal."

Toby said the last part, knowing that it would get a response form the man.

"I am not a criminal."

"Yes you are." Cabe replied, "You are facing counts of treason against this country."

His facial expression turned from fear to shock.

"What?"

"Unless you tell us why you're working with Mark Collins, we will have you arrested for-"

Before Cabe could finish his sentence, Walter became too overwhelmed and decided to speak up.

"He took two innocent people; a mother and a child. _You_ did this." Walter ripped Paige's phone from his pocket and showed the man the picture of Paige and Ralph. "Collins is dangerous and now the lives of these two people are in his hands."

While Walter's voice was strong, his eyes were beginning to water. He blinked several times before any of his team members could notice.

The guard put his head in his hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that he was that dangerous. Sure, he was a little crazy, but I had no idea that he was going to take those people."

"But he did." Said Cabe, "And you need to tell us where he took them."

"I don't know."

"You're working together, you must have known where he was going."

The guard looked up with wide eyes, "I'm not working _with_ him." His words were truthful; which meant the team had hit another dead end.

"Then why did you help him escape?" Walter yelled at him.

The team was shocked to hear Walter yell, Toby could tell that he was way past upset.

The man looked at Mr. Roch and sighed, knowing his words would cost him his position at the institution.

"Mr. Collins found out something about my past." He gulped, "I was young and stupid. It would have cost me my position with the U.S Military and I couldn't lose my job… My wife is expecting our second child, we rely on this pay check."

Cabe knew that what the man had done was wrong, but he couldn't punish him with prison time. He too had done things that violated protocol in efforts to keep his family safe.

"How long ago did he get out?" Walter asked.

"Just a couple days."

"Exact times, I need exact times!" He pushed for a more accurate answer.

"About three days ago."

Walter 's head began to shake back and forth; he knew that it was only a matter of time before Collins did something irreversible.

Walter stormed past the others as he left the room. He pushed his way through the crowds of people in the hallway.

He heard a tiny voice saying, "Excuse me sir. Excuse me." But he couldn't stop; he needed air. Once outside, he walked in a circle with a fairly small radius as he let panic creep into his bones.

"Excuse me!" The woman had followed him outside.

Walter stared at the woman who had curls of grey hair framing her aged face. "What?" He asked impolitely. He hadn't meant to be rude, but he wasn't interested in making small talk.

"I can see that you're stressed out, but don't forget your manners." The elderly woman's words reminded him of Paige. Paige was always reminding Ralph of his manners.

Walter smiled internally at the pleasant memory.

"What is it you need?" He asked trying to sound more sincere.

The woman just smiled at his attempt at using manners.

"Are you here about Mr. Collins?" She asked in a tiny voice.

Walter's interest in the conversation sparked as she mentioned Collins.

"What do you know?" He asked hastily.

"About a week and a half ago, I was chatting with another one of the nurses and I could feel someone lurking over us."

Walter nodded his head, waiting for something important to be mentioned.

"It was Mr. Collins; he was listening to our conversation. Anyways, I was talking to her about a foreclosed home on the other side of Los Angeles. After I mentioned it, Mr. Collins retreated to his room for almost two days straight."

"That's were he went." Walter unintentionally said out loud.

"I don't know for sure, but it seems likely."

After giving him the address, Walter began to walk towards his team to tell them about the foreclosed home.

Something his mind made him stop in his tracks. _What would Paige do?_

He turned to face the older woman.

"Thank you."

The woman smiled at him, then Walter headed off to join his team.

**A/N 2: Thank you all for your patience with the updates. I try to write as often as I can and I appreciate the continued support. **

**Thank you for Reading/Reviewing.**


	16. Chapter 16

"Ralph, wake up. Ralph." Paige gently tried to wake up Ralph who was sound asleep in her arms. They had been in the basement for hours and her son couldn't bear to keep his eyes open any longer. Paige knew that he needed to stay awake and alert; anything could happen at any moment.

The threats that Collins had made towards her and her son replayed over and over again in her mind. She knew that Collins was insane and doubted that he would stop until he gets what he wants.

Despite her best efforts, Ralph continued to sleep. When she heard footsteps coming down the stairs, she shifted so she could stand up in front of her sleeping son.

"Hello again." Collins said with a smile as he approached Paige.

"What do you want?" Immediately after she asked, she knew it was a stupid question.

"You know exactly what I want… and you also know that I'm going to get it."

"Walter misses you." Paige didn't have a chance to think before the words escaped her lips. She knew they weren't true, but she had to do something.

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying. He wouldn't let the others know, but he regrets having you locked up again."

A tiny smile formed then faded off of Mark's face. He was unsure about whether or not to trust her.

"He told me that he misses your intelligence." She knew that Collins would believe that, because he missed Walter's intelligence as well.

"See? I knew that I had done the right thing." Collins seemed pleased with the news that Paige had shared; unfortunately, it just gave him more of a drive to complete his task.

"Now once I get rid of you and Ralph, my plan will fully go into motion."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"No?" He asked mockingly, "You don't think this is a good idea? Well I'm not worried because you and your 95 IQ are not in control of this matter."

He chuckled at the thought of an IQ so low.

"If you do anything to Ralph, Walter will never forgive you. You'll never become close with him again."

Paige may not be genius but she has an EQ higher than most people. She couldn't bear to hear him make threats against her son.

"I can promise you that if you take anyone away from his team, you will never be allowed on it."

"It is _our_ team, _not_ just his." Collins was getting upset with her as he moved to stand mere feet away from her face.

"Then let us leave."

"Why would I do that? You'll go running back to Walter and plant misconceptions about my plans in his head."

"If you hurt us, he won't forgive you. But if we just pick up and leave without a word, then he'll never forgive us… leaving you a spot with Scorpion."

The two adults stared at each other for several minutes.

Paige was trying to see if Collins believed her, while he tried to see if she was bluffing.

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"Because I'm a mother and I love my son. Yes, I care about Walter and Scorpion, but I will not risk my son's life just to be a part of the team."

Paige had no intention of leaving, but Collins didn't have to know that.

"Then you will call him and tell him you and Ralph are leaving."

"What?" Paige asked, confused.

Without giving a response, Collins grabbed his phone and called Paige's number. After only one ring, Walter picked up the phone.

"_Paige_?" He asked from the other end of the line.

"Walter?" Paige was relieved to hear his voice. The last time they talked, he was telling her that they should forget about their near kiss at the hospital. She remembered losing her breath and the feeling that her heart was ripping. But in this moment, she couldn't think about anything other than being right by his side.

"_Don't worry we are-"_

"You're on speakerphone Walter." She spoke quickly when she realized that Walter and the rest of the team were on their way. She could hear Happy's driving in the background; there were car horns honking from every direction.

"_Collins?"_ Walter asked hesitantly.

"Hello Walter. Please, don't stop on my account. Continue with what you were going to tell Paige."

"_Well, I was just going to tell her that we are doing our best to find her and Ralph." _

Paige was always impressed by the way he could improv in high stress situations.

"There's no need for that anymore Walter." Collins said with pleasure.

"_Why is that_?" Paige could tell that Walter was worried on the other end of the phone.

"We're leaving Walter. Ralph and I don't want to be here anymore." Paige spoke shyly and Walter was confused; He wasn't buying it, so there was no way that Collins would.

Before any more words could be exchanged, Collins' laughter echoed in their ears.

"How stupid do you think I am?" Collins spoke with precision and dangerous intent.

A minute went by with complete silence. Collins was looking at Paige and she was returning his glare. She felt blind for not seeing that he didn't believe her.

"_What's going on_?" Walter's voice was insistent and filled with worry.

"Walter, Paige is not only a danger to you but also to Scorpion. She confided in me that she would not risk her son's life to be a part of the team."

Paige's heart sunk as his words entered her eardrums.

"She is weak and not worthy of your intelligence. But I am Walter. I am."

"_What are you talking about_?"

"I am willing to risk everything to be a part of Scorpion again. I will risk Ralph's life to prove to you that I am dedicated."

"What?" Paige asked fearfully.

Collins ended the call and looked towards a sleeping Ralph. Paige stepped in front of him and blocked his view of the child.

She didn't need to say anything for him to know what she was doing; she was not going to let him near her son.

"I will be back in five minutes, then we can see who deserves a spot working with Walter."

He turned around and walked upstairs. Immediately after the door closed, a teary-eyed Paige ran over to her son and forced him to wake up.

"Ralph!"

His eyes opened quickly as he woke to his mother's fear filled eyes.

"Mom?"

"We need to get out of here now." Paige looked around the room for anything that would break the door at the top of the stairs. Worry began to overwhelm her as she realized that Collins was on the other side of the door; even if they could get out of this basement, how could they get out of the house.

When she felt a small tap on shoulder, she immediately turned towards her son.

"The window." Ralph was pointing at the small window that only the young boy could fit through.

"What about the bars?" She asked, knowing that her son had already come up with a solution for the problem.

"This house is old with water damage, the integrity of the bars is compromised." Ralph stood up and walked over to the window. From his height, it was difficult to see, but he managed to make an observation. "There are a lot of abrasions on the titanium oxide film, which leads to a higher chance of corrosion."

Paige looked at her son with pride and curiosity as to the source of his information.

"Happy taught me about titanium, and all sorts of metals. We just need to apply a force and they should break off."

"Okay." Paige began looking around the room for anything that would break the bars. When she spotted a hammer under the stairs beside a toolbox, she grabbed it and headed over to the window.

"Mom?"

"Yes?" She asked, keeping a note of how long until Collins was set to return.

"You can't get out the window." Ralph looked up at his mom with confusion. He didn't understand why they would be making a plan that didn't benefit her escape too.

"I know. Once we get the bars off and get the window open, I am going to lift you up and you're going to run. Okay?"

"I don't want to go if you're not going."

"You have too. Please." She could tell that Ralph was afraid. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then you're going to run. Walter will be here soon and he will keep you safe."

"What about you?"

"You can tell the team where I am and they will come help me." She swallowed the lump in her throat, and then continued, "I will be okay."

"Scoop swear?"

Paige didn't want to make a promise she couldn't keep. But at the same time, she knew that if she didn't, Ralph wouldn't leave her and he too would be in danger.

"Scoop swear."

She turned around and began pulling on the metal bars. After around 20 seconds of trying, the bars finally snapped off.

With a sigh of relief, Paige lifted the latch on the window and opened it. Her relief dissipated as rapidly as is formed when she heard the door at the top of the basement stairs opening.

"I love you." She said as she lifted her son to the window so he could crawl through it.

As soon as both his legs were through the window, she couldn't help the smile that formed on her face.

"What the-" Collins spotted Paige at the window and noticed Ralph's absence. He took heavy steps as he walked over to her.

"Mom?" Ralph feared for his mother who remained on the inside of the house.

"Run Ralph!"

"I love you too." The words were quiet but she heard them with full clarity.

Paige quickly inhaled. Ralph never said that. She always knew that he loved her, but hearing the words coming from his lips somehow expanded her love for the boy.

She was smiling at the sight of Ralph running away when she felt heavy hands gabbing her shoulders and pushing her to the ground.

**A/N: I'd love to know what you thought of this chapter! Thanks for Reading/Reviewing!**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Thank you all for continuing to tune into this story! I apologize for the delay with the updates, as you can imagine it is a very busy time of the year! Enjoy the new chapter!**

"Why did you do that?" Collins pushed Paige to the floor.

He looked out the small window and saw a young boy running out of sight.

"That was not a part of the plan."

He threw his hands towards his head as he tried to figure out what to do.

Paige didn't respond, she was just happy that her son was away from Collins.

"You didn't change anything." Collins spat towards her, "I will still get to him and the others."

"Walter will protect them. All of them." Paige was confident that Walter would make sure that not only her son, but also their friends wouldn't get hurt.

"Everyone but you it seems."

Paige knew exactly what he meant; she couldn't stand the thought of Ralph losing both his parents.

_At least he'll have Walter and the others._

"Why are you smiling?"

Paige hadn't realized that a small smile had formed on her face.

"Stop it!" Collins was furious that she was acting as though she had won.

Paige pushed herself up from the floor and took a step towards him.

"Now is when you have to make a choice." Her voice was solid and unwavering.

He stood silently, purely curious about what idiotic words would pass the woman's lips.

"You're plan didn't work. Walter is going to figure that out. Just let me go and I will tell him that you were kind and let me live."

"Kind?" Collins was flabbergasted, "You think _kindness_ will impress Walter?" He was on the verge of laughter.

"Yes." Paige knew that Walter appreciated kindness. She was kind to him and he liked her for that. Paige let her mind momentarily wander as she imagined other things that Walter might like about her.

"Strength." One word left his mouth. There were many ways the word could be interpreted, but they both knew what he meant.

"I have the strength to make the hard choice. I will do what Walter needs, not what he thinks he wants. One day, he will thank me for it."

Collins reached behind his back.

"You talk about choices Paige… well this is mine."

Her eyes caught the sight of a black object being pointed at her.

Collins held the gun firmly, confident in his decision. "First you, then Sylvester. Oh! I won't forget about that agent… Gallo is it? That'll be a fun one since he shot me the last time I saw him. Shortly after, Happy and Toby. Then," He took a step towards her, "Ralph. And it'll be slow."

Paige could feel her heart beating out of control as her fists and teeth clenched.

* * *

><p>Ralph's legs felt weak. He hadn't been running for long, but he was sprinting and slowly losing breath. His vision was becoming blurred as external sounds jumbled together.<p>

Suddenly, his feet stopped in their tracks as he bent over and grasped his chest. Ralph could feel the strong beating of his heart against his skin, and he was unable to move further.

His head swung from side to side, taking note of his surroundings. He was standing in the center of a middle class neighbourhood. The houses were all neutral colours with manicured lawns. He saw a woman walking a small dog on the other side of the street. Once she saw him, she began making her way towards him. She appeared to be full of concern.

Ralph didn't know how to respond. He had to find Walter; he didn't want to talk to anyone else, and certainly not with a stranger.

Frantically looking around, his eyes caught sight of one of the house's basement windows; Ralph felt an overwhelming feeling consume him.

He turned around, tempted to run back to the house that his mother was locked inside of. He bit his bottom lip, regretting leaving her alone.

"Are you alright?" His attention was drawn to the woman standing in front of him.

Ralph didn't reply.

"Are you lost?" The woman's voice was full of concern as she reached into her purse and grabbed her phone.

"I'm going to call the police. You're going to be home soon." The woman, who was completely oblivious to the boy's situation, remained by his side as she began dialling.

Before she could press the call button, a vehicle hastily swerved down the road. The sound of horns honking from the highway accompanied it.

Their heads turned towards the sounds and they spotted a black van driving down the road going at least double the speed limit.

Ralph could see a black haired woman driving the van; it was Happy. Ralph raced towards the vehicle as it halted to a stop in front of him. The woman, who was confused and frightened for the child's safety, followed.

The side door opened and Walter and Cabe jumped out.

"I've called the police!" The woman shouted, trying to ward off the strange men.

"Ma'am, I am Agent Cabe Gallo from Homeland Security." He pulled out his badge as the woman felt noticeably relieved.

Ralph ran into Walter's arms.

"Walter."

"I'm here bud." Walter ran his hand through Ralph's hair, grateful that the young boy was safe. Worry consumed him as he looked around and didn't see Paige anywhere. "Where's your mom?"

"She couldn't get out. She told me to run."

Walter's eyes locked with Ralph's.

"You have to save her Walter. Please."

Ralph's eyes were watering.

"I will." Walter stood up and turned towards Cabe, who had just sent the woman home. "The address for the house is just down that street."

"I will keep Ralph here; we need to keep him away from Collins. You and the others go get Paige back. I will call for reinforcements."

Walter jumped back in the van as Ralph ran towards Cabe.

Happy began driving towards the foreclosed house.

"He's going to be fine; he was just a little shaken up." Toby tried to comfort Walter.

When he just nodded in response, Toby continued.

"So will _she_."

Walter looked at Toby, as if debating whether or not he should let himself believe that.

"We're here." Happy yelled as the van came to a sudden stop.

"Thank goodness." Sylvester said as he hopped out with a nauseous expression plastered on his face.

Walter, Happy and Toby jumped out of the van and began heading for the front door.

Suddenly, all of them stopped in their tracks as their heartbeats sped out of control. The sharp sound originated from the basement of the house they were about to enter.

Walter had no question about what it was he had just heard.

It was a gunshot.

**I hope you liked the chapter! Thank you for Reading/Reviewing!**


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